![]() ![]() ![]() Nature mandates that authors of research papers make their data publicly available online. Meanwhile, an NIH-funded research paper by Andrew Adey and colleagues on the genome sequence of a second HeLa line was in press at Nature (published in this issue see page 207) 3. ![]() Within days, the European researchers removed the sequence from the public databases, to allow time for consideration of alternative approaches. Nonetheless, the sequence can reveal certain heritable aspects of Lacks’ germline DNA, and can thus be used to draw inferences, admittedly of uncertain significance, about her descendants. The cells carry the genetic modifications that allowed them to form a tumour and grow prolifically and their passage in cell culture for more than six decades has led to other structural anomalies. The genome of these cells is not identical to Lacks’ original genome. The action did, however, upset the Lacks family, and it drew criticism from many quarters 2. The German research team that in March this year posted the HeLa genome on open-access databases available through the European Bioinformatics Institute and the NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information did not violate any laws or rules. The story of Lacks’ unwitting contribution to science, and the proud and poignant legacy it left for her descendants, is told in Rebecca Skloot’s best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown, 2010), which is now being made into a film by Oprah Winfrey’s production company. Today, more than 60 years later, scientists around the world use HeLa cells for research on almost every disease. Henrietta died later that year, but her cells live on. The tissue sample gave rise to the first human cancer-cell line that could grow endlessly in culture, called HeLa. This biospecimen was taken without her permission or knowledge US regulations requiring consent were still decades away. ![]() In 1951, physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, took a biopsy from Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African American woman who had an aggressive form of cervical cancer. ![]()
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