Henrietta Lacks: The Woman Behind the First Immortal Cells
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
If you’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine, know someone treated for cancer, or have undergone an X-Ray, then your life has been influenced by HeLa cells: the first immortal human cell line. Since their discovery in 1951, their resulting advances in biomedical research have led to three Nobel prizes, vaccines that have saved millions of lives, the birth of genetic medicine, and many more crucial stepping stones in the biomedical world.
But what are these immortal ‘HeLa’ cells? And how did they become immortal? Entering John Hopkins hospital, Virginia, circa 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a young AfricanAmerican mother of 5 was seeking treatment for aggressive cervical adenocarcinoma (cancer). John Hopkins was the only nearby hospital accepting patients of colour. At the time, the standard treatment was radium therapy (this is no longer used due to the long term cell damage it causes). She never complained and always assumed that the doctors knew best. Given that patient consent wasn’t yet formally recognised, Henrietta’s gynecologist, Dr. Richard TeLinde, never asked permission to take a sample of her cervical tissue whilst she was sedated, nor to give some of it to a researcher at the hospital: Dr. George Gey. TeLinde had been taking samples for Gey from any black woman who entered the ward, without their knowledge or consent. At the time, it was believed that as these patients didn’t pay for treatment it was fair to use their bodies for research as a way of payment, regardless of the patients’ knowledge.
For a long time, Gey had been attempting to grow cells continuously in culture. His attempts thus far had only been unsuccessful, and he was desperate to find a cell line that would grow. Gey had developed a culture medium composed of chicken plasma, calf embryo extract and human umbilical cord blood. He kept Henrietta’s cells in this medium using ‘roller drum technique’ in which a large wooden drum holds small ‘roller tubes’ that slowly and continuously rotate. This is used to imitate the constant motion of blood and fluids in the body. Much to his surprise, the cells not only lived, but doubled every 20-24 hours! Ecstatic with this new discovery, Gey shared samples of HeLa cells with his colleagues, then the country, then the world.
Although Henrietta’s radium treatment initially shrank her tumours, they eventually took over her whole body, leaving her weak, immobile and full of agonising pain. She passed away aged 31 on the 4th of October, 1951, unknowing of the extraordinary significance her cells would hold. Beyond Henrietta’s death, HeLa cells were transported all over the globe, with over 50 million tonnes of the cells being replicated. Scientists used them for human cell and cancer research, leading to many crucial advances in technology, medicine, and biology.
Over several decades, HeLa cells were:
1950s
Mixed with a special liquid that allowed researchers to view and count each chromosome, leading to the discovery that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes and the beginning of genetic medicine.
Helped create the first successful polio vaccine, eventually eradicating polio altogether and saving millions of children from paralysis.
Used in one of the first experiments on the effects of X-Rays on human cell growth; laying the groundwork for X-Ray safety precautions and methods practiced today.
1960s
Taken aboard some of the very first space capsules; providing initial insight into how space travel would affect astronauts in future missions.
Used to study the benefits of hydroxyurea in cancer treatment. Hydroxyurea is now used as a chemotherapy medication for leukemia, head and neck cancer, a painkiller for sickle cell anemia, and more.
1970s
Observed to determine how salmonella infects the body; enabling development of new methods to diagnose and treat it.
1980s
Used to discover the effects of HPV and how it can lead to certain cancers.
Tested with a drug called ‘Camptothecin’, which was found to slow cancer growth and is now a successful form of treatment.
Used to study how HIV-AIDS works; later facilitating certain drugs being developed to limit the spread of infections.
1990s – present day
Used to discover telomeres; revolutionising the study of aging as we know it.
Tested to unveil how thalidomide (an anti-morning sickness drug used by pregnant women) was causing birth defects; helping to end the ‘thalidomide crisis’. This study also helped apply thalidomide to stopping cancer’s effects instead.
Helped develop now widely-used microscopic techniques that allow ongoing cell processes to be viewed and analysed.
Used in research for the synthesis of the COVID-19 vaccine which put an end to the 2020-2021 pandemics.
While it's important to appreciate the positive impact that these cells have caused, it also can't be forgotten where these cells came from. It wasn't until 25 years after Henrietta passed that her family first learned of how scientists were experimenting on her cells all over the world. THe Lackses were incredibly upset that their mother wasn't being recognised by the medical community. There was some debate over where the ‘HeLa’ name came from (Helen Lane? Heather Lawrence?) as Henrietta Lacks had never been formally recognised as the source of these miraculous cells.
Henrietta’s true story finally came to light, 60 years later, through Rebecca Skloot’s book ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ (I highly recommend) which was then turned into a film starring Oprah Winfrey. In the book, it was revealed that Henrietta’s family received no compensation and struggle to fund care for various medical issues, while large companies profit greatly from HeLa cells. In 2023, the Lacks family won a significant lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific (a huge biotechnology company profiting greatly from Henrietta’s cells) under the claim that the company was “unjustly enriched’ by its use of HeLa cells.
In the future, the Lacks family’s lawyers are hoping to go after more companies profiting from Henrietta’s cells and finally bring justice to her name. Additionally, this settlement has started an important conversation around medical discrimination and giving patients a property stake in their tissues, and has brought to light many similar cases which could start unjust enrichment lawsuits just like this one.
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