The immortal cells without which many therapies would not exist IMIESA – IMIESA

An elegant young woman is smiling at the camera in the photo. Henrietta Lacks still had her life ahead of her. She was married with five children, but then an aggressive cancer ended her life early. The American died 1951, with 31 years. And yet it has given the world an unprecedented gift: She left behind immortal cells that have changed the world, said her grandson, Alfred Carter, in Geneva last week. There the World Health Organization (WHO) honored Lacks, 70 years after her death. Millions of people owe their lives to Henrietta Lacks.

Lacks had come 1951 to the Johns Hopkins Clinic in Baltimore near Washington with bleeding. Doctors diagnosed cervical cancer. Despite treatment, she died a few months later. A tissue sample taken from Lacks became a medical sensation. The cell biologist George Gey and his wife Margaret started a culture as usual, but unlike before, the cells did not die after a short time. Lacks cancer was so aggressive that the cells doubled every 18 hours.

The HeLa cell line named after the first letter of Lacks first and last name is legendary in medical circles. It became a cornerstone of modern medicine. There are now other cell lines, but the HeLa cells are robust and therefore continue to be in great demand. 50 Millions of tons have been produced and researched so far, said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan. More than 75 studies based on research on HeLa cells, said they.

They were used to develop the polio vaccine, lots of drugs against cancer, HIV and AIDS, leukemia and Parkinsons. HeLa cells also played an important role in the development of the vaccines against the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, said Swaminathan.

Companies have patented certain uses of the cells and have made a lot of money with them. The German cancer researcher Harald zur Hausen found the human papilloma viruses HPV 16 and HPV 18 that led to the development of the HPV vaccine. He got the Nobel Prize for it.

In all of this there was no mention of Lacks or her family. It took 70 years until the honor ceremony for Henrietta Lacks at the WHO. Words cannot describe how much that means to me, said her son Lawrence Lacks (87) moving in Geneva. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren celebrated the moment, but it was clear that the family was disappointed.

Lacks actually only achieved fame through the bestseller The Immortality of Henrietta Lacks by the US science journalist Rebecca Skloot 2010. She described the familys annoyance to the rzteblatt at the time: On the one hand (are) the cells of Henrietta, who have done so much for humanity and with which some companies have earned a lot of money, and on the other hand, they themselves, who still lack the money to go to the doctor. Racism played a role: The African American Lacks was poor, people like her were ignored, ignored and not respected at the time.

Henrietta Lacks was taken advantage of, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus now frankly. Cells were removed from her without asking. She would have been happy to know that her suffering had saved so many people in the end, said Tedros. But the end does not justify the means.

Tedros, like the family, avoided the ongoing medical disadvantage of the worlds poor. It is true that the HPV vaccine was also created with the help of HeLa cells. But while young people in rich countries can be vaccinated with it without any problems, the substance is offered in less than a quarter of the poorest countries.

The family now has the HeLa 100 Initiative launched to celebrate Lacks unique contribution to medicine and make it known. We also want to promote equality in health for all and social justice, said her great-granddaughter Victoria Baptiste in Geneva. The family has at the beginning of October, on 70. Anniversary of Lacks death, a first lawsuit filed against a biotech company. She accuses her of doing business with cells taken from Henrietta Lacks without consent in a racist medical system. Further lawsuits against other companies are to follow, as the familys lawyers in Baltimore announced. (dpa)

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The immortal cells without which many therapies would not exist IMIESA - IMIESA