THE IMPORTANCE OF HENRRIETA LACK's CELLS

WHY ARE HENRRIETTA LACK’s CELLS SO IMPORTANT?

Henrietta Lacks was an AFRICAN-AMERICAN woman who died by a tumor in the neck of the uterus.

More than 60 years ago, in one of the few hospitals in Maryland (USA) that catered to blacks, a doctor isolated the first immortal human cells (the cells of Henrietta).

 

The history of HELA cells is back at the beginning of the 1950s, when the American doctor George Otto Grey managed to cultivate a tumor removed from the young Henrietta Lacks shortly before his death.

 

Henrietta Lacks died of cancer shortly after surgery, without knowing what became of the removed tumor and consent to its use. The conclusion of this story is that human cells can be immortal, while the body has a limited lifetime.

 

After the first achievement with HeLa cells, other cells of different origins have been cultivated. Over time, the HeLa cells have been used to explain phenomena such as the replication of the chromosomes, the viral infections and the effects of ultraviolet light. Today these cells continue to be a source of information and their legacy is perpetuated in laboratories around the world.

Although she died more than half a century ago, Henrietta Lacks is the older person in the world in his thirties.