25 must read books - VII

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

In early 1951, a 30 year old black woman, Henrietta Lacks, sought treatment in Johns Hopkins hospital complaining of "painful knot in womb". She was a mother of five staying in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins was a charity hospital and only one in the vicinity accepting black patients. 

She was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before commencing radiotherapy, the treating doctor cut away two slices  of sample tissues, one cancerous and other healthy, from the crevix of Henerietta and gave them to a research scientist who was working on developing an immortal - ever reproducing - human cell line for cancer research. No one had succeeded till then in reproducing cancer cells in a laboratory.

The Henrietta Lacks (HeLa) cells succeeded in reproducing, enabling many discoveries and insight into human genetics. Polio vaccines were successfully tested with these cells enabling their mass production.

In about six decades, the Hela tissue has yielded 50 million metric tons of cells giving a big boost to medical research. The HeLa cells continue to used for research pupose to this day.

As was the custom in those days, the sample tissues were taken without permission from Henrietta. Though the HeLa cells contribute towards research, medical industries hugely, the descendants of Henrietta continue to live in abject poverty. 

The author, Rebecca Skloot, a scientific journalist, researched for 10 years before producing this book. It reads like a novel and is a stand out book in medical journalism.

Enjoy


Prabir