HELA
HeLa cells are the oldest and most commonly used human cell line used in making human research. Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 of an aggressive adenocarcinoma of the cervix. A tissue biopsy obtained for diagnostic evaluation yielded additional tissue for Dr. George O. Gey's tissue culture laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. The cells, called HeLa cells, grew rapidly in cell culture and became the first human cell line for experimental growth of viruses. HeLa cells have been used by researchers around the world. They became a standard cell line soon after their discovery. HeLa cells have since been used to search for a cure for leukemia and the cause of cancer and to study genetic control mechanisms, protein synthesis, and cellular effects of radiation. Particularly notable is the crucial role the cells played in the development of the polio vaccine.
HeLa Cell Line cervical adenocarcinoma cell line. The HeLa line is one of the best-known cell lines in the world. Derived in 1951 from an adenocarcinoma of the cervix found in a 31-year-old woman (Henrietta Lacks), HeLa cells were the first human cells to survive indefinitely in the laboratory. The cells exhibit epithelial morphology and grow adherently, reproducing an entire generation about every 24 hours.
Immortal Cells of a Black Woman: How a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine - Henrietta’s cancer cells were the first "immortal human cells" ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.
August 1, 2015 - Ethical Issues in Big Data Health Research: Currents in Contemporary Bioethics
August 7, 2015 – What HeLa Cells Are You Using? (full text)
May 15, 2013 – Investigating Viruses in Cells Used to Make Vaccines; and Evaluating the Potential Threat Posed by Transmission of Viruses to Humans “Detection of latent viruses in cell substrates for vaccine safety. The urgent demand for vaccines against emerging diseases has necessitated the use of novel cell substrates. These include tumorigenic cells such as MDCK and CHO cells (for influenza virus vaccines), 293 and PER.C6 cells (for adenovirus-vectored HIV-1 and other vaccines), and tumor-derived cells such as HeLa cells (for HIV-1 vaccines).”
July 2010 – Check your cultures! A list of cross-contaminated or misidentified cell lines (full text) “The list currently contains 360 cell lines, drawn from 68 references. Most contaminants arise within the same species, with HeLa still the most frequently encountered (29%, 106/360) among human cell lines, but interspecies contaminants account for a small but substantial minority of cases (9%, 33/360). Second, even if there are no previous publications on cross-contamination for that cell line, it is essential to check the sample itself by performing authentication testing.”
September 11, 2009 – Harnessing endogenous miRNAs to control virus tissue tropism as a strategy for developing attenuated virus vaccines (full text) – “Our strategy to engineer polioviruses that are responsive to miRNA regulation was successful at precluding viral replication in cells expressing the target miRNA. PV-L7 replication was attenuated in HeLa cells, and that attenuation correlated with a decrease in viral RNA levels six hours after infection.”
September 2009 – Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and cell culture contamination. Twenty years after Henrietta Lacks' death, mounting evidence suggested that HeLa cells contaminated and overgrew other cell lines. Cultures, supposedly of tissues such as breast cancer or mouse, proved to be HeLa cells. We describe the history behind the development of HeLa cells, including the first published description of Ms. Lacks' autopsy, and the cell culture contamination that resulted. The debate over cell culture contamination began in the 1970s and was not harmonious. Ultimately, the problem was not resolved and it continues today. Finally, we discuss the philosophical implications of the immortal HeLa cell line.The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who eventually died of her cancer on October 4, 1951. The cell line was found to be remarkably durable and prolific, particularly in the early development of polio vaccines.
April 2009 – A novel L1 retrotransposon marker for HeLa cell line identification (full text) HeLa contamination is common in both the research laboratory and cell line repository contexts, and its detection is hampered by the lack of a rapid, sensitive and robust assay. Here we report the development of a HeLa-specific DNA diagnostic test: a single duplex detection PCR assay targeting an L1 retrotransposon insertion.
February 9, 2009 – The amazing HeLa cells of Henrietta Lacks: One of the most widely used continuous cell lines for virology is the HeLa cell line, which was derived in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks. What is the origin of this amazing cell line?
April 2002 – HeLa cells 50 years on: the good, the bad and the ugly. HeLa cells — the first continuous cancer cell line — have been a mainstay of cancer research ever since their isolation from the aggressive glandular cervical cancer of a young woman more than 50 years ago. Knowledge of almost every process that occurs in human cells has been obtained using HeLa cells and the many other cell lines that have since been isolated. So why does fraud an ignorance surround the use of these and other human cancer cell lines?
June 29, 2001 – Responsibility for truth in research. (pdf) Culture cross-contamination has long been a problem in labs.
January 1, 1999 – Comprehensive and Definitive Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of HeLa Cells by Spectral Karyotyping (full text) Numerical and structural chromosomal aberrations identified by SKY, genomic imbalances detected by CGH, as well as FISH localization of HPV18 integration at the c-MYC locus in HeLa cells are common and representative for advanced stage cervical cell carcinomas. The HeLa genome has been remarkably stable after years of continuous cultivation; therefore, the genetic alterations detected may have been present in the primary tumor and reflect events that are relevant to the development of cervical cancer.
1991 – Eradication of Cross-Contaminated Cell Lines: A Call for Action Misidentification and inter- and intra-specific cross-contamination of mammalian cell cultures used in research continues as a widespread problem despite an awareness that dates back more than 45 years.
May 1980 – Potential for Inappropriate Therapeutic Application of Drug as a Result of the Use of Cell Substrates of Uncertain Derivation (pdf)
1980 – Characteristics of HeLa strains: permanent vs. variable features. Characteristic rearranged human chromosome markers have been observed in a variety of HeLa cell sublines and in five suspected HeLa contaminant lines originally thought to be derived from differentiated tissues of different individual patients.
January 1976 – HeLa cultures defined. A list is presented of references to all known publications on properties which have served to relate strains of HeLa cells to each other as well as to indict other purported human cell lines as HeLa cell contaminants. Eleven additional cell lines not previously indicted are described.
October 27, 1975 – Measurement of Virus Antigens on the Surface of HeLa Cells Persistently Infected with Wild Type and Vaccine Strains of Measles Virus by Radioimmune Assay (pdf)