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Researchers Unveil Genome of 'Immortal' Cell Line Derived From Cancer Victim
vinces99 writes "Scientists have unveiled a comprehensive portrait of the genome of the world's first immortal cell line, known as HeLa, derived in 1951 from an aggressive cervical cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American woman. The cells, taken without her or her family's knowledge, were pivotal in developing the polio vaccine, in vitro fertilization and cloning, and were the subject of a 2010 New York Times best-seller 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.' The Lacks family has never been compensated and, until this new University of Washington study, has never had a say in how the information is used. The study, published Aug. 8 in Nature, pieced together the complicated insertion of the human papillomavirus genome, which contains its own set of cancer genes, into Lacks' genome near an 'oncogene,' a naturally occurring gene that can cause cancer when altered. Scientists had never succeeded in reproducing cells in a culture until the HeLa cells, which reproduced an entire generation every 24 hours and never stopped. The cells allowed scientists to perform experiments without using a living human. The researchers discovered that the genome of the HeLa cell line, which has been replicated millions, if not billions of times, has remained relatively stable."
what a dupe, just 8 articles later...
Doctor: Well, I have good news and bad news.
...
Patient: Gimme the good news first, doc.
Doctor: Well, your cells are immortal... but
Patient: Seriously? REALLY?! Well, what's the bad news?
Doctor: Unfortunately, you're going to die from cancer in the next 3 months.
Patient: Well f&#$^@ kn3$9$#les.
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
The original is still on the front page. Good thing we have "editors".
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
> Since its already a cancerous cell line, how can we be sure its actually useful.
It's the wrong question. After 62 years and 74,000 scientific papers, the cell line is not just useful, it's legendary. Every biology and medicine student reads about it in their text books.
> Wouldn't successful cancer treatments destroy it altogether?
It's a cell line. It's in labs (all over the world), not in a live person any more.
> Maybe instead of relying on one particularly incredible replication subject shouldn't have stopped us from trying to find more...
No one stopped from trying to find more. HeLa is not the only one. It's the first and the most popular one. Natural immortal cell lines are just very rare.
FTWA:
HeLa cells have a modal chromosome number of 82, with four copies of chromosome 12 and three copies of chromosomes 6, 8, and 17. As these are cancer cells, orderly cell division does not take place. Therefore the number of chromosomes they have can vary considerably, even within a single culture.
"The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
What would be a fair payment to the family for a sample of cells of a dead person?
In 1952 there were over 3000 deaths caused by polio. Thanks to the vaccine, the disease was eliminated in the US by 1979.
I'd suggest we should, at a minimum, arrange for 100,000 people to swing by their house and say "thank you".
#DeleteChrome
I give blood and I know that it can be used for research. If you have a biosample taken and it's used in medical research, it's a good thing. Why should you be compensated ? You benefit indirectly when something useful is made out of it (or somebody else's). And in particular, why should the 2nd cousin's grandnephew be compensated when, as for copyrights, they haven't contributed a THING ? Not everything is about money.
Non-Linux Penguins ?