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She is a game-changer for all of humanity, in the realms of science and beyond. She revolutionised chemotherapy treatments for various terminal cancers. She sparked the creation of the polio, cervical cancer, and coronavirus vaccines, among countless others. She is the reason we developed treatments for conditions such as HIV-AIDS, Down Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, and more. She is the reason we developed IVF (in vitro fertilization), helping people with infertility to achieve pregnancy. This may shock you, but she is the reason we were able to put a human on the moon! She is the reason science and humanity have progressed this far. Her name is Henrietta Lacks.
Henrietta was born in 1920 and married her husband, David Lacks, in 1941. Henrietta’s husband had many extramarital affairs during their marriage, and because of this, she contracted HPV (human papillomavirus), a disease that is sexually transmitted. HPV infects the cells in the cervix (part of the uterus), and can lead to the development of cervical cancer. In 1951, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital. After months of being in the hospital, Henrietta died of cervical cancer, at the age of 31. The hospital performed an autopsy with her husband’s consent, however, during the autopsy, the hospital extracted cervical cancer cells from her body without informing any of her family members. When the cells were grown in a lab, scientists quickly discovered that Henrietta’s cells are miraculous!
Henrietta Lacks's cells didn’t behave like normal cells. Her cells are the first and only human cells that had the magical ability to keep multiplying infinitely in the lab without ever dying. All other cells could only multiply a certain amount and would die within a few days/weeks. Researchers find it extremely helpful to perform experiments on these cells since they do not have the risk of dying. Scientists named her cells HeLa cells, pronounced: “heelah”.
Because of the immortality of HeLa cells, they were easy to mail to scientists all around the world and were quickly used by scientists for many different research purposes globally. Scientists started using her cells to study the effect of genetic diseases on the human body, which is something they could never do before because all cells other than HeLa cells died easily. This allowed for groundbreaking discoveries on conditions and diseases such as HIV-AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, Down Syndrome, Hepatitis, Measles, Chicken Pox, Anaemia, Parkinson’s disease, and HPV, among many others. Using this research, scientists were able to discover and invent treatments for these conditions such as vaccines, saving the lives of innumerable patients.
Furthermore, HeLa cells played a role in the development of chemotherapy, a revolutionary treatment for various forms of cancer. Since, for the first time ever, scientists could view how cancer affects the human body cells. They were also able to test the effects of chemotherapy on body cells, which resulted in the advancement of new safe, and effective chemotherapy options for numerous cancers such as lung cancer, brain cancer, leukemia (blood cancer), breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and others.
What’s more, HeLa cells helped humanity in achieving the Moon Landing, one of our most incredible accomplishments. This was because scientists at the time were unaware of the effects of zero gravity on the human body, but, with the immortal HeLa cells, scientists were able to send them on early space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. With these insights, in 1969, were able to safely put a human on the moon for the first time ever.
It is extremely important to note that many of the aforementioned incredible scientific discoveries made in this period of time would have been impossible without Henrietta Lacks’s immortal cells. Today, 71 years later, there are still no body cells discovered that are immortal like HeLa cells, and although there are theories and hypotheses, scientists still don’t know the full detailed reason why Henrietta’s cells are immortal.
Works Cited
Butanis, Benjamin. “The Importance of HeLa Cells | Johns Hopkins Medicine.” Www.hopkinsmedicine.org, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/importance-of-hela-cells.html#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%20several%20decades. Accessed 29 May 2023.
Jo Ann Day. “The Johns Hopkins Hospital | Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD.” Hopkinsmedicine.org, 10 Sept. 2019, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/the_johns_hopkins_hospital/.
Samuel, Leah. “5 Important Ways Henrietta Lacks Changed Medical Science.” STAT, 14 Apr. 2017, www.statnews.com/2017/04/14/henrietta-lacks-hela-cells-science/#:~:text=Eradicating%20polio.
Skloot, Rebecca. Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. 2010. S.L., Picador, 2 Feb. 2010.
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