Sarah Hall
Cardiff University, UK

Keith Siew
University of Cambridge, UK

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.91.51

Even if they’ve never used a HeLa cell in their own research, most physiologists probably know a colleague who has, or have read a paper reporting data from these cells. Over the decades, HeLa cells have led to important advances in gene mapping and in vitro fertilisation, as well as the life-saving development of vaccines for polio and cancer. Yet, despite this, some could not tell you that the acronym HeLa refers to Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman who died of cervical cancer aged 31 and who, arguably, has contributed more to biomedical science than any other person to date. Henrietta’s story and the development of the HeLa cell line are at the heart of Rebecca Skloot’s first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Skloot’s account of Henrietta’s life is told with sensitivity and genuine warmth; the explanation of attempts to culture cells and the subsequent commercialisation of the cell line have sufficient scientific integrity, despite the author’s lack of scientific training. Part historical account, part detective story and part ethical debate, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks combines these narrative threads into an absorbing and challenging book that should be on every physiologist’s reading list.

Henrietta was born in 1920 to a family of tobacco farmers in Virginia. After her marriage to David ‘Day’ Lacks, she settled in Baltimore to work and raise her family of five children. When she became ill, she went to Johns Hopkins University which, at the time, was the only place offering medical treatment without charge to the black community. In that same hospital, Dr George Gey and his team were working to develop the first human cell culture, but were finding little success. They were excited when a sample of Henrietta’s cancer cells, unlike any of the other tissue samples they had tried, grew quickly and easily in the culture lab.

Unbeknown to Henrietta’s family, news of this breakthrough spread throughout the scientific community as Dr Gey began distributing his ‘HeLa’ cells to other researchers. They were first sent to local labs, where they continued to replicate, then across the country and eventually all over the world. Widespread scientific interest in these cells rapidly birthed a multi-billion dollar industry that revolutionised medical research, and the book relays how reputations and fortunes were made, while Henrietta remained anonymous and her family unaware. It was not until some 20 years after her death that the Lacks family would learn the life-changing news of their mother’s “immortal” cells and their subsequent exploitation for profit. The author’s role in this aspect of the story detracts somewhat from the main focus of the book, but the family’s reactions to the news reveal a heart-breaking chasm between cutting-edge science and the lives of these ordinary Americans.

Skloot has managed to capture the emotional story of Henrietta Lacks and her family, while diligently chronicling the development of a new scientific arena and documenting what could be considered the first case study of medical research ethics. A quick search of the current literature reveals almost 2000 papers using HeLa cells were published last year alone. Even if you don’t read any of these papers, it is worth making time to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as a complex and thought-provoking reminder of the broader context of this scientific endeavour.