HeLa cell
| HeLa cells | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | H. sapiens |
| Subspecies: | H. s. gartleri |
| Binomial name | |
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Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Synonyms | |
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HeLa /ˈhiːlɑː/ (also Hela or hela) is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who died of her cancer on October 4, 1951. The cell line was found to be remarkably durable and prolific which warrants its extensive use in scientific research.
The cells from Lacks' cancerous cervical tumor were taken without her knowledge or consent by researcher George Gey, who found that they could be kept alive. Before this, cells cultured from other human cells would only survive for a few days. Scientists spent more time trying to keep the cells alive than performing actual research on them. Cells from Lacks' tumor behaved differently. George Gey was able to isolate one specific cell, multiply it, and develop what is called a 'cell line'. As was custom for Gey's lab assistant, she labeled the culture 'HeLa', the first two letters of the patient's first and last name; this became the name of the cell line.
These were the first human cells grown in a lab that were naturally "immortal", meaning that they do not die after a set number of cell divisions (i.e. lack of senescence). These cells could be used for conducting a multitude of medical experiments- if the cells died, they could simply be thrown away and the experiment could be repeated on new cells without the potential loss of human life. This represented an enormous boon to medical and biological research.
The stable growth of HeLa enabled a researcher at the University of Minnesota hospital to successfully grow polio virus, enabling the development of a vaccine, and by 1954, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio using these cells. To test Salk's new vaccine, the cells were put into mass production in the first-ever cell production factory.
In 1955, HeLa cells were the first human cells successfully cloned and demand for the HeLa cells quickly grew in the nascent biomedical industry. Since the cells' first mass replications, they have been used by scientists in various types of investigations including disease research, gene mapping, and effects of toxic substances and radiation on humans. Additionally, HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products.
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