Henrietta's cells, and a sad anniversary.

America owes us so much and there are still some folks who refuse to show us any love. I am thinking about Henrietta Lacks and her incredible contribution to health and science. If you are reading this and you have never heard of her you should be ashamed of yourself.

But take heart, hopefully after reading this post you will be able to show off your Henrietta Lacks knowledge to your friends.

"When Henrietta Lacks was stricken with an aggressive cancer more than 60 years ago, doctors who treated her at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore took cells from her tumor without her permission or knowledge, as was common practice at the time. They soon learned that the cells were just as aggressive in a laboratory dish. Instead of dying quickly as previous cell lines had, they kept replicating at an astonishing rate, earning them the label “immortal” and making them immensely valuable to any scientist who wanted a stable base for experiments.

The cells, called HeLa cells, are ubiquitous in labs around the world and have been used in more than 74,000 research studies on almost every disease. The cells have helped researchers develop a polio vaccine and gain insights into cell biology, in vitro fertilization, and cancer, among other advances.
      

The enduring constant in this saga has been the cavalier treatment of the Lacks family by medical researchers. Neither Ms. Lacks nor others in her family were told that extracting cells from her tumor (and later taking cells from some of her relatives) was not being done for their benefit but for the benefit of science.

That condescending attitude changed last week when the National Institutes of Health announced an agreement with the Lacks family that will restrict N.I.H.-financed research on the genome of HeLa cells (not the use of HeLa cells in experiments) and place two family members on a committee to approve such research.

 

The family was especially concerned that publishing the full genomic sequence of HeLa cells would violate its privacy by revealing abnormalities in genes that could be transmitted to later generations. Although the deal does not apply to projects not funded by N.I.H., the agency hopes all researchers will honor it." [Source]

 

Taking this woman's cell for 62 years without her permission was not cool. And using her cell to replicate an endless cell line which is now being used all around the world is definitely not cool.

 

The thing is, knowing black folks the way that I do, all they had to do was ask.

 

Finally, since we are talking about History, on this day in 1906, African American soldiers stationed in Brownsville, Texas got into it with the locals of that town.

 

Read up on what happened in Brownsville and tell me if you think the actions of President Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were that of honorable men, and why so little is known about this sad chapter of American history.   

 

 

Thank you Mrs. Lacks!

Life can be so unfair at times. I was thinking that while listening to Rebecca Skloot talk about her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", this evening. (Shout out to Michael Smerconish for featuring this author on his radio show. BTW Mike, I am still waiting for my check. You can't just steal a brother's logo and not break him off with something.)

So here is the story: Mrs. Lacks visits Johns Hopkins Medical Center (The "colored" section. It was, after all, 1951.) after experiencing pain in the area of her cervix. She was later diagnosed with cervical cancer. During her treatment doctors removed samples of her tumor for research purposes. (Without her knowledge or permission.) The cells from the tumor would eventually become the "He La immortal cell line" which is a very important and often used cell line in biomedical research.

Mrs. Lacks' cells were special, because, unlike no other cells before, they could be kept alive and even grow. Here is a quote from Wiki:

"..Demand for the HeLa cells quickly grew. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta's cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe for "research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits".[11] HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products.[1] Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells.[1][15]

Doctors still have not discovered the reason for HeLa cells' unique vigor, but suspect that it is due to altered telomerase function. There are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells.[1]

In the early 1970s, the family started getting calls from researchers who wanted blood samples from them to learn the family's genetics (eye colours, hair colours, and genetic connections). The family wondered why and this is when they learned about the removal of Henrietta's cells. No one else in the family had the traits that made her cells unique .."

That's all great, and, by all accounts, billions of dollars have been made by bio research companies thanks to this woman's unique cells. Now she is getting all kinds of posthumous recognition, and a movie by Oprah is in the works. The irony is, of course, that her family remains poor. And they cannot even afford to get health coverage today for their own ailments.

This quote from Ruth Faden in the Baltimore Sun is on the money:

"The contrast is stunning between the well-endowed world of biomedical research and the situation of the Lacks family, and it contributes to our unease about the inequities in our society generally, but especially when it comes to health care."

Folks, I hope that the next time you hear a wingnut ranting about "Obamacare" you will think of Mrs. Lacks.