As I review my first six Unsung Heroes columns, I see that half were black musicians from the 20th century and all were male. I've planned to write about several female heroes - women who changed the world - but each will take some research to do justice to her legacy. While skimming a recent Popular Science magazine, I found yet another candidate whom I believe I can properly tell you about with less research. My chosen heroes up to now have been people who made the list because of their accomplishments, but this woman is a hero as a result of personal misfortune. Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who died of complications of cervical cancer in 1951, yet in a way, she lives on to this day. The human cell line HeLa, derived from her tumor, is still alive today. HeLa is immortal - the first for a human-derived cell line. Countless research projects, beginning with polio vaccine testing and continuing to this day, have used HeLa cells to the great benefit of humanity. You may be alive today because of HeLa.
I first heard of Henrietta Lacks many years ago when I was in college, but back then, her real name was officially not known. In the interests of privacy, those who wrote about her used pseudonyms. I remember her being called "Helen Lang," which may be a misremembering of the commonly used "Helen Lane" or perhaps some researchers actually did use that name. She was also referred to as "Helen Larson." In any case, her real name eventually became known, as did her life history. This is a source of one of the controversies that surround the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.
The loss of personal privacy concerning her life and medical history has been an unfortunate part of the story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa. When Lacks' identity became known, her medical history, which was necessary to characterize HeLa, also became known. The reason is that HeLa isn't purely a tumor cell - it is also a hybrid of the human papillomavirus 18. Lacks had other medical issues, relevant to researchers studying HeLa, which became public knowledge when she was linked with HeLa. This hybrid nature of HeLa makes it quite different from normal human cells - enough so that some have suggested that it be considered a new species.
There is, of course, another name associated with HeLa, the person who propagated the cells taken from Henrietta. The researcher was named George Otto Gey. He deserves the hero title also, but some would have you believe that he's at best a flawed hero. The reason for this is that the cells taken from Lacks were taken without explicit permission. In 1951, that was not at all unusual, and even today, cells taken from a patient during a medical procedure are considered discarded, and therefore, the patient has no say in their use or stake in their value. In my reading, I haven't seen a detailed discussion of the monetary value of HeLa, but it doesn't seem as though her family has ever received any compensation.
I'd normally tell you more, but I'm lacking a critical source of information. Rebecca Skloot has written a book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which I intend to read. I would have read it already, but the number of holds for it at the Summit County Library is significantly larger than the number of copies available, so I'll be waiting awhile. I expect it to be one of the best books I'll read this year. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there concerning Henrietta Lacks and HeLa, as well as controversies concerning ethics, privacy, medical profiteering, unequal treatment of patients based on race, and what constitutes a new species. I hope this book sets the record straight. You can find the book's website at rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life.
I have a few more things to tell you this month. Windows 7 came out a few months ago. I didn't upgrade, but a new version of another operating system came out a few days ago that I did take advantage of. We have an old laptop that uses Windows XP Professional and it's been getting slower and more troublesome each time we power it up. After backing up critical data files, I set it up to dual boot Ubuntu 10.04 (code name "Lucid Lynx,") which is one of the most popular variants of Linux. When I power up the machine and boot to Ubuntu, we have a useful laptop again. I've experimented with previous versions of Linux, both Ubuntu and Red Hat. Years ago, I used UNIX at work and I also owned several Amiga computers that I configured to be UNIX-like. Windows works well for most users, and it works well for me most of the time, but when you have tasks that require a bit more power or flexibility, it's nice to have access to an alternative. You can reach the Ubuntu website at www.ubuntu.com. The download is free. Depending on your hardware and experience level, it can be anything from trouble-free to a real pain (just like Windows!) so you might not want to tackle it unless you're a bit of a computer whiz. Always back up any critical files before doing anything like this!
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Catbar - Brain Candy #149 - Unsung Heroes #7 - Henrietta Lacks / Brian Rock / Wed Jul 07 21:14:17 EDT 2010
