Critical Analysis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.

In 1951, the first immortal cell line was created by a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital using tissue samples taken from a young, black woman named Henrietta Lacks. Her cells would come to be known as HeLa cells, and for a very long time, the owner of these cells was a mystery; even her family did not know about them. For years to come, her cells would be used in many important medical and scientific advancements. Over that time, HeLa cells would prove to be instrumental in developing a polio vaccine, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization. They would even be sent to space to see how cells would react in zero gravity.

Henrietta Lacks died never knowing the impact her life would have on the world of medicine. A poor, black woman living in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1950s, Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died only nine short months after her diagnosis at the age of thirty-one. The mother of five children, Henrietta most likely died thinking her family would be her legacy. Little did she know her doctor at John Hopkins hospital, George Gey, had taken some of her cells before she died. With Henrietta’s cells, Dr. Gey was finally able to achieve a goal he had been working toward for decades – creating the first line of immortal cells (Freeman). These cells have been used for countless scientific research and have solidified Henrietta Lacks’ place

Due to the fact that Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells grown in a lab that did not die after a few cell divisions, they could be used for conducting many experiments. Her cells were considered “immortal”. This was a major breakthrough in medical and biological research. One major breakthrough was the development of a vaccine for polio. To test the vaccine the cells were quickly put into mass production in the first-ever cell production factory. Another enormous breakthrough was the successful cloning of human cells in 1955. Demand for the HeLa cells grew quickly. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta’s cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe from “research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits.” (Smith, 2002, "Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science".) HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells, and there are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells. (Batts, 2010)

In this semester’s book club, I have enjoyed the book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This book describes a true and famous cell line in the medical research field, that is the first immortal cell line in the world, HeLa cells. Not until I finished reading this fantastic book, I know that the HeLa cells were taken from a cervical cancer patient, Henrietta Lacks, without letting her know the truth about using her cells in research, even though she died. What more surprising to me was that her family lived a hard life without health insurance while the researchers make many profits from developing HeLa cells, they were never informed about their family member’s devotion to the scientific research.

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital. Without any consent, Henrietta’s doctors took tissue samples from her cervix and attempted to grow them and keep them alive. These cells, known as HeLa cells, began to grow at an unbelievable rate; The HeLa cell became vital for the development of vaccines and other scientific research. However because of Henrietta’s race and economic standpoint, Henrietta Lacks and the rest of the Lacks family was exploited by doctors. The exploitation of the family allowed the doctors and researchers to benefit scientifically and monetarily.

Cell production factories were now being made where they grew up to twenty thousand test tubes of HeLa cells each week. Since HeLa cells were so successful it made advances in the medical field. Thanks to the HeLa cells there was now a large industry of the cell line and people started creating their own but there was not a cell line more successful than HeLa. Henrietta’s name was never said to the public since Dr. Gey did not think it was a good idea to let the public know that she was the owner of the cells so that he could protect the privacy of her family.

In the book, “ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by the author Rebecca Skloot, showed the story of an African American woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and her cells became the first immortal human cells. Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in her early thirties, at Hopkins hospital, which was for families that could not afford for medical procedures and treatments. Doctors and experts at Hopkins did not take consent form Henrietta, when they took a sample of her diseased cells. Her cells later became known as HeLa cells, those cells changed the medicine industry and advanced treatments and procedures than ever before. However, her family never knew or told until many years later, people were making profit out

Henrietta was bleeding abnormally. Her husband took her to John Hopkins hospital. Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer, but they had never seen something like hers. Sadly, Henrietta died but John Hopkins Hospital discovered her cells multiplied twice, every 24 hours. Medicine has changed forever ever since her mortal cells were discovered. Her cells were sent out to different places around the U.S Europe, Asia, and India. Her cells helped develop the polio vaccines, they were able to run many neutralization tests on her cells. For 30 years they had been in search of cells that lived outside of the human body, and they had finally made it. Scientists were able to clone her cells. The cells helped them gain information on how viruses attacked human cells. Her cells were also used to see how steroids worked for chemotherapy and tuberculosis. They were so amazed by her cells that they thought they had found the cure to cancer. Her family found out about their mother’s cells in 1976 when her story was published in a Rolling Stone magazine with her real name. HELA is the name they gave her cells short for Henrietta Lacks. HELA cells became very efficient for many different uses in all. Today, HELA cells have saved many people

HeLa cells are cells collected from Henrietta Lacks that have helped in many different medical advancements. HeLa cells helped to create in vitro fertilization, the polio vaccine, and some cancer treatments, to name a few. They were cervical cancer cells that served as an immortal cell line for scientific research. HeLa cells were the first line of human cells that survived in a test tube. They were taken and grown by Dr. George Gey in 1951.

The cells taken from the biopsy of Henrietta’s tumor were given to a researcher, George Gey, and her cells became a huge medical discovery because they could survive and multiply indefinitely. These cells were then named HeLa cells. HeLa cells led to many revolutionary medical advances

Henrietta finally went to the doctor because she thought she had no choice after having a feeling for almost a year that something was not right(Skloot 14). She visited John Hopkins Hospital and was tended to by a Physician whose name was Howard Jones. He quickly diagnosed her with cervical cancer. All of the tests that Henrietta took revealed that she suffered from syphilis, gonorrhea, and the hpv virus(Skloot). These were a result of her husband having sex with a lot of different women. During a biopsy to help try to beat her cancer the hospital took a tissue sample from her cervix for testing. Doctor George Gey had been testing on cells unsuccessfully for 20 years trying to keep them alive and duplicate them outside of the body. When they tested Henrietta's cells they somehow did not die after a couple days but kept duplicating. This made Henrietta's cells the first immortal cell line ever by a human(5 reasons). The breakthrough of this cell line was one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in a long time. Henrietta's cells were and are now called Hela cells. The definition of this is “a cancerous cell belonging to a strain continuously cultured since its isolation in 1951 from a patient suffering from cervical carcinoma. The designation HeLa is derived from the name of the patient, Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells were the

Rebecca Skloot is a scientific journalist who first heard the name ‘Henrietta Lacks’ in a college classroom in the 1980s, when she was a teenager. Henrietta was a black American woman who died of cancer in 1951 at age 31. Before she died, a sample was taken from her tumor, without her knowledge or consent, and used for medical research. The cells in Henrietta’s tissue sample, known as HeLa (pronounced hee-lah) were the first human cells to survive in culture – they not only survived, but thrived and multiplied. Consequently, HeLa cells have since been used in scientific research all over the world, and have played a fundamental role in numerous medical advances and developments.

The HeLa cell lines emerged, on February 1, 1951, after a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks visited her physician after noticing blood spots in her underwear. The physician examined Henriette and discovered a tumor in her cervix. The physician retrieved a segment of the tumor and sent it to a lab for further diagnosis. Later on, it was announced that the tumor was infectious. Days later Henrietta returned to her physician and another sample was taken and sent to the head of tissue culture research at Hopkins, George Gey. Both Gey and his were in the search for a tool that specialized in the study of cancer. If their innovation succeeded they could reveal a treatment for cancer. During Gey’s research of Henrietta’s cells multiplied rapidly and within days the cells increased in thickness. Henriett Lack died October 4, 1951. George Gey main

HeLa cells proved so hardy that when passed around the world to various laboratories over the next few decades, the immortal cells frequently contaminated other tissue culture cells lines used in cancer and cancer virus research.