Si Henrietta Lacks, née Loretta Pleasant, (ipinanganak noong Agosto 1, 1920, Roanoke, Virginia, US — namatay noong Oktubre 4, 1951, Baltimore, Maryland), Amerikanong babae na ang mga selulang kanser sa cervical ay pinagmulan ng HeLa cell line, pananaliksik kung saan nag-ambag sa maraming mahalagang pagsulong sa agham.
Quiz
Mga Sikat na Amerikano na Mukha: Fact o Fiction?
Si Clarence Darrow ay isang kilalang tagausig ng ika-19 na siglo.
Matapos mamatay ang kanyang ina sa panganganak noong 1924, lumipat ang kanyang ama kasama ang kanyang 10 anak sa Clover, Virginia, kung saan hinati niya ito sa mga kamag-anak upang mapalaki. Si Henrietta ay pinalaki ng kanyang lolo, na inaalagaan din ang isa pang apo, na pinsan ni Henrietta na si David, na kilala bilang Araw. Si Henrietta at Day ay ikinasal noong Abril 10, 1941. Hinikayat ng isang pinsan, si Day sa lalong madaling panahon ay lumipat sa hilaga sa Maryland upang magtrabaho sa gilingan ng bakal ng Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point, na umuusbong sa kahilingan na nilikha ng World War II. Di-nagtagal pagkatapos ay sumali si Henrietta at ang mga anak ng mag-asawa sa Araw sa Turner Station, Maryland, isang pamayanan sa labas ng Baltimore kung saan nakatira ang maraming mga Amerikanong Amerikano.
Bago ang kanyang ikalimang pagbubuntis, naramdaman ni Henrietta ang isang "buhol" sa loob niya, at ang nakakabahalang pagdurugo at katibayan ng isang bukol sa kanyang serviks ilang buwan matapos manganak na sa wakas ay pinadala ni Henrietta sa kanyang doktor. Siya ay tinukoy sa departamento ng ginekolohiya sa Johns Hopkins Hospital sa Baltimore, kung saan noong Pebrero 1951 isang biopsy ang nagpahiwatig ng pagkakaroon ng isang cervical tumor na hindi natuklasan ng mga doktor kapwa sa kapanganakan ng kanyang anak noong Setyembre 19, 1950, at kasunod -uping pagsusuri makalipas ang anim na linggo.
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.
