New book about Immortal Cells and the Woman Who Had Them

Yahoo Article

Medical researchers use laboratory-grown human cells to learn the intricacies of how cells work and test theories about the causes and treatment of diseases. The cell lines they need are “immortal”—they can grow indefinitely, be frozen for decades, divided into different batches and shared among scientists. In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor remained a mystery for decades.

Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Im not sure how old this story is, but I just saw it on the Yahoo web page. There is a new book coming out called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It discusses her, the cells, and the impact of it all.

Ive never heard of these cells before. I can only imagine if scientist end up being able to mass produce these kinds of cells later on. Theres so much potential for these. Most of the article is about the woman and not about the cells in depth but it is a good read. Hopefully there will be many more medical breakthroughs using these kinds of cells. The more information coming out about this, the more people will look into this and hopefully discover new things.

If anyone has already read the book, if its even out yet, is it worth it? Depending on how much the book is, I may end up just waiting a few years so the price goes down, that is if it is really expensive at the moment.

Oh, that's very cool!

Yes, I knew about the HeLa cells but all I knew was that they existed. The article is an interesting one, and more so because it ties into some of the research I've read about and done on poor and uneducated people and medical care (her husband couldn't understand that they'd kept the cells and thought they had actually kept her.) I knew it was an important research cell line, but that was the end of what they told us.

I'll have to see if I can find some online papers about her. It's a fascinating story. Thanks for reporting on it!

So Jesus was a black dude? (old reference to a WWII spoof movie, "A Man Called Sarge")...

But seriously, I wonder if some will claim the donor to be a descendent of Jesus, etc., etc....???

Ok, in all seriousness though...wonder what the implication is for combining these properties with stem cells and cloning could mean...?

*hears Highlander music playing in the background*

Amazing isn't it?

Many of the medical advances of this century literally stem from the body of a black woman.

You'd almost expect it to be a Neil Stephenson's novel, not reality.

cells are already immortal, ageing is a curable disease .

Sure. However, the cure to cell death is cancer. The cure is worse.

reply to post by buni11687


The cells are immortal because their mechanisms for cellular aging are damaged. They are cancer cells. Henrietta Lacks died from the cancer that these cells are taken from back in 1951.

Immortal human cells are easy to find, this is just the earliest and most prolific line. Becoming immortal takes a bit more than messing with your genes so that every cell divides out of control and doesn't die off. Well, being immortal as a single entity anyway.

I read more about Henrietta Lacks -- what a compelling story! The reports raised all sorts of interesting ethical issues, such as who should profit if they make a new discovery thanks to the use of your genetic material? As her daughter said, if they're making millions of dollars by using her cells, how can they justify letting her heirs (children) live in poverty.

What was also sad was how little the family understood about what had happened. Some of this shows how badly segregated schools were. It's a wonder many Blacks of my parents' generation learned to read at all.

Originally posted by Gazrok
So Jesus was a black dude? (old reference to a WWII spoof movie, "A Man Called Sarge")...

No.

But seriously, I wonder if some will claim the donor to be a descendent of Jesus, etc., etc....???

No. At least the family won't.

Ok, in all seriousness though...wonder what the implication is for combining these properties with stem cells and cloning could mean...?

Already been done, according to other articles. So far all they're doing is producing research cell lineages that are used to discover and test drugs.

So i'm confused, are these cells from this women still available to be tested on or what? If not then what hope do we have of replicating it in the lab?

If we do still have the original cells then why has it taken so long to replicate her cells so they can be used by now for medical uses?

Originally posted by andre18
are these cells from this women still available to be tested on or what?


Yeah they are still around. In fact, it was discovered in the 70's that they had taken over many (perhaps half) other laboratory cell cultures all over the world. It caused quite a stir and they have since been very carefully genetically mapped and kept close tabs on because of their aggressiveness.

I'm not in the game but I don't think they know exactly what's going on with them to this day. They certainly have contributed to medical knowledge in a profound way and the story is fascinating. -I can see why the book was written.

Does this mean she is an Immortal? I know I am probably asking a dumb question, but I was just reminded of the old Outer Limits about the woman the ARMY was testing who was in fact, an immortal and she never aged or died and they said something about the cells but I can't remember what it was.Maybe they got the storyline from this story? It would be cool. Think about it, if there were immortals, how could we develop their dna to make us all immortal?

Sorry again, I don't know what happened I got knocked off line and it posted two more times IDK why?????

[edit on 3-2-2010 by ldyserenity]

I got knocked offline but it posted three times WTH is going on????

[edit on 3-2-2010 by ldyserenity]

reply to post by ldyserenity


No, she died of cancer. The cells from the tumor multiply very aggressively.

Originally posted by beezwaxes
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

No, she died of cancer. The cells from the tumor multiply very aggressively.

O Ok, DaRN! I wish I could find a real immortal and splice their dna! I don't know why, I hate life but I think I'd enjoy it more if I were Immortal!

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by beezwaxes
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

I hate life but I think I'd enjoy it more if I were Immortal!

LOL, Man you're complex. Thanks for the morning chuckle.

Originally posted by andre18
So i'm confused, are these cells from this women still available to be tested on or what? If not then what hope do we have of replicating it in the lab?

If we do still have the original cells then why has it taken so long to replicate her cells so they can be used by now for medical uses?

Almost all universities and lab's that work on research and development relating to the human body have a dish full of these cells. They are constantly replicating and have been since they were taken decades ago.

Without them most of the public breakthroughs in medicine would have likely not happened due to a lack of donars from the general populace.

Does it make this woman immortal? Evidently not as she died of cancer decades ago. (Some may believe she still exists in spirit or has been reborn though).

so what is it with the cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks that make them so aggressive, more so than others? is it more so than others?

do other people have these aggressive cancer cells?


forgive my lack of understanding but i am very very very rookie when it comes to biology.