Henrietta Lacks, rodená Loretta Pleasant, (narodená 1. augusta 1920, Roanoke, Virginia, USA - zomrel 4. októbra 1951, Baltimore, Maryland), americká žena, ktorej rakovinové bunky krčka maternice boli zdrojom bunkovej línie HeLa. Výskum, ktorý prispel k mnohým dôležitým vedeckým pokrokom.
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Slávne americké tváre: Fakt alebo fikcia?
Clarence Darrow bol známy prokurátor 19. storočia.
Keď jej matka pri pôrode zomrela v roku 1924, presťahoval sa jej otec so svojimi 10 deťmi do Clover vo Virgínii, kde ich rozdelil medzi príbuzných, aby boli vychovaní. Henrietta tak vychovávala jej starý otec, ktorý sa staral aj o ďalšieho vnúča, Henriettovho bratranca Davida, známeho ako Deň. Henrietta a Day sa vzali 10. apríla 1941. Deň povzbudená bratrancom sa čoskoro presťahovala na sever do Marylandu, aby pracovala v oceliarni Sparrows Point v Bethlehem Steel, ktorá prekvitala dopytom vyvolaným druhou svetovou vojnou. Krátko nato sa Henrietta a deti páru pripojili k Dňu na stanici Turner v Marylande, komunite mimo Baltimoru, kde žilo mnoho afrických amerických oceliarskych pracovníkov.
Pred piatym tehotenstvom Henrietta v nej vycítila „uzol“ a znepokojivé krvácanie a známky hrčiek na jej krčku maternice niekoľko mesiacov po narodení nakoniec Henriettu poslali lekárovi. Bola odovzdaná na gynekologické oddelenie v nemocnici Johns Hopkins v Baltimore, kde vo februári 1951 biopsia naznačila prítomnosť cervikálneho tumoru, ktorý lekári neodhalili pri narodení svojho syna 19. septembra 1950 a pri následnom sledovaní - vyšetrenie o šesť týždňov neskôr.
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.
