HeLa Cells
HeLa is an immortal cell line derived from cervical cancer cells taken from Henrietta Lacks in 1951.
Origin and properties
Henrietta Lacks was treated for cervical adenocarcinoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where a sample of her tumor was cultured without her knowledge or consent. The cells grew continuously where other human cell cultures had died, and the line has been dividing ever since. The tumor carried human papillomavirus type 18, whose E6 and E7 proteins inactivate p53 and RB, the two principal restraints on unlimited division in human cells.
HeLa was used widely in mid-century cell biology: the polio vaccine was developed in HeLa cultures, and the line appears in tens of thousands of studies. Its vigor also made it a contaminant. By the 1970s researchers found that many cell lines thought to come from other tissues were HeLa in disguise, a discovery that forced widespread retraction and identity testing.
The Lacks case
The line’s origin became a landmark case in research ethics. Lacks died of her cancer in 1951; her family learned of the line’s existence two decades later and received neither compensation nor consent rights over its use. The case shaped modern informed-consent requirements.