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Henrietta Lacks, rođena Loretta Pleasant, (rođena 1. kolovoza 1920., Roanoke, Virginija, SAD - umrla 4. listopada 1951., Baltimore, Maryland), američka žena čije su stanice raka vrata maternice bile izvor ćelijske linije HeLa, čije je istraživanje pridonijelo do brojnih važnih znanstvenih dostignuća.
Kviz
Poznata američka lica: činjenica ili fikcija?
Clarence Darrow bio je poznati tužitelj iz 19. stoljeća.
Nakon što joj je majka umrla u porođaju 1924. godine, otac se preselio sa svojih 10 djece u Clover, Virginia, gdje ih je podijelio među rođake koje će odgajati. Henriettu je tako odgajao njezin djed, koji je također pazio na još jedno unuče, Henriettin rođak David, poznat kao Day. Henrietta i Day vjenčali su se 10. travnja 1941. Potaknuta rođakom, Day se ubrzo preselila na sjever u Maryland kako bi radila u čeličani Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point, koja je narasla potražnjom koju je stvorio Drugi svjetski rat. Ubrzo nakon toga Henrietta i djeca bračnog para pridružili su se danu na kolodvoru Turner, Maryland, zajednici izvan Baltimorea u kojoj su živjeli mnogi afroamerički čeličani.
Prije svoje pete trudnoće, Henrietta je osjetila čvor u sebi, a zabrinjavajuće krvarenje i dokaz kvržice na grliću maternice nekoliko mjeseci nakon poroda napokon je poslao Henriettu svom liječniku. Premještena je na ginekološki odjel u bolnicu Johns Hopkins u Baltimoreu, gdje je u veljači 1951. biopsija ukazala na prisustvo grlića maternice koji su liječnici otkrili 19. rujna 1950., i nakon toga - pregled šest tjedana kasnije.
After further tests, Henrietta received the first of several radium treatments, the standard of care for the day, which involved stitching small glass tubes of the radioactive metal secured in fabric pouches—called Brack plaques—to the cervix. While performing the procedure, the surgeon extracted two small tissue samples: one from Henrietta’s tumour and one from healthy cervical tissue close by. The samples from Henrietta’s cervix were among many extracted for physician George Gey, the head of tissue culture research at Johns Hopkins, who was searching for an “immortal” cell line for use in cancer research. Unlike previous samples, Henrietta’s cancerous cells—called HeLa, from Henrietta Lacks—not only survived but also multiplied at an extraordinary rate. Henrietta herself was unaware that any sample had been taken; at that time it was not uncommon to study patients and their tissues without their knowledge or consent (see Tuskegee syphilis study).
While her cells thrived, Henrietta declined. By September the cancer had spread throughout her body, and early the following month Henrietta died. However, the HeLa cells, famed for their longevity,continued to thrive in culture long after Henrietta’s death. HeLa became a ubiquitous study material, contributing to the development of drugs for numerous ailments, including polio, Parkinson disease, and leukemia. In spite of this, until the 1970s Henrietta’s role was unknown even to her family. In the 21st century Henrietta’s case was an important component in the debate surrounding informed consent from patients for the extraction and use of cells in research. In 2013 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted the Lacks family control over how data on the HeLa cell genome would be used (the genome of a HeLa cell line had been sequenced in full earlier that year). Two members of the Lacks family formed part of the NIH’s HeLa Genome Data Access working group, which reviewed researchers’ applications for access to the HeLa sequence information.
