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100-528: Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant ; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research . An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to
200-442: A film project based on Skloot's book, and in 2016 filming commenced. with Winfrey in the leading role of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter. The film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was released in 2017, with Renée Elise Goldsberry portraying Lacks. Sons David Lacks Jr. and Zakariyya Rahman and granddaughter Jeri Lacks were consultants for the film. HBO also commissioned Kadir Nelson for an oil painting of Lacks. In 2018,
300-401: A "knot" in her womb. She had previously told her cousins about the "knot" and they assumed correctly that she was pregnant. But after giving birth to Joseph, Lacks had a severe hemorrhage . Her primary care doctor, William C. Wade, referred her back to Johns Hopkins. There, her doctor, Howard W. Jones , took a biopsy of a mass found on Lacks's cervix for laboratory testing. Soon after, Lacks
400-625: A January 1947 report on medical care in Maryland, the normal occupancy of private and public mental hospital beds was 7,453. Of these, only Crownsville had African American patients in its 1,044 occupied beds as of August 1946. Hospital conditions deteriorated markedly in the 1940s due to overcrowding and staff shortages. The staffing of the wards was very inadequate during the period of World War II. Financial support hurt asylums because most were philanthropies, but costs to operate them were high (Osborn, Lawrence). The Commissioner of Mental Hygiene said in
500-599: A belated obituary for her, as part of the Overlooked history project. Also in 2018, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture jointly announced the accession of a portrait of Lacks by Kadir Nelson . On October 6, 2018, Johns Hopkins University announced plans to name a research building in honor of Lacks. The announcement was made at
600-493: A cell line from Lacks's sample by isolating one specific cell and repeatedly dividing it, meaning that the same cell could then be used for conducting many experiments. They became known as HeLa cells, because Gey's standard method for labeling samples was to use the first two letters of the patient's first and last names. The ability to rapidly reproduce HeLa cells in a laboratory setting has led to many important breakthroughs in biomedical research. For example, by 1954, Jonas Salk
700-478: A common procedure during those years, but Crownsville Superintendent Dr. Morgenstern was opposed to them. In his 1950 Annual Report, he said that Crownsville has "very few lobotomies". He also expressed his opposition to the trend "to rely upon this operation to make the institutional case more manageable". In a report of March 1954, the Superintendent stated that lobotomies were not being done. According to
800-591: A congressional resolution recognizing Lacks and her contributions to medical science and research. In 2010, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research established the annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture Series, to honor Henrietta Lacks and the global impact of HeLa cells on medicine and research. In 2011, Morgan State University in Baltimore granted Lacks a posthumous honorary doctorate in public service. Also in 2011,
900-471: A follow-up. During her treatments, two samples were taken from Lacks's cervix without her permission or knowledge; one sample was of healthy tissue and the other was cancerous. These samples were given to George Otto Gey , a physician and cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins. The cells from the cancerous sample eventually became known as the HeLa immortal cell line , a commonly used cell line in contemporary biomedical research . On August 8, 1951, Lacks, who
1000-730: A letter of May 22, 1945 to the State's Governor: "A few nights ago at Crownsville in the division which houses ninety criminal, insane men there was one employee on duty." A "Confidential Report to the Board of Mental Hygiene in Regard to Present Conditions in State Hospitals" (November 14, 1944) stated that Crownsville was 30-percent over its capacity, in contrast to the two large hospitals for white patients which were 11.6-percent and 11-percent over capacity. That same report documented that, for
1100-518: A marker in cancer diagnostics and staging . Cancer cells are created when the genes responsible for regulating cell division are damaged. Carcinogenesis is caused by mutation and epimutation of the genetic material of normal cells, which upsets the normal balance between proliferation and cell death. This results in uncontrolled cell division in the body. The uncontrolled and often rapid proliferation of cells can lead to benign or malignant tumours (cancer). Benign tumors do not spread to other parts of
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#17327720108821200-480: A portrait by Kadir Nelson and a poem by Saul Williams . HeLa , a play by Chicago playwright J. Nicole Brooks , was commissioned by Sideshow Theatre Company in 2016, with a public staged reading on July 31, 2017. The play was produced by Sideshow at Chicago's Greenhouse Theater Center from November 18 to December 23, 2018. The play uses Lacks's life story as a jumping point for a larger conversation about Afrofuturism, scientific progress, and bodily autonomy. In
1300-539: A result, members of Henrietta Lacks's family received solicitations for blood samples from researchers hoping to learn about the family's genetics in order to differentiate between HeLa cells and other cell lines. Alarmed and confused, several family members began questioning why they were receiving so many telephone calls requesting blood samples. In 1975, the family also learned through a chance dinner-party conversation that material originating in Henrietta Lacks
1400-399: A role. Stem cell research suggests that excess SP2 protein may turn stem cells into cancer cells. However, a lack of particular co-stimulated molecules that aid in the way antigens react with lymphocytes can impair the natural killer cells' function, ultimately leading to cancer. When a cell is deficient in the capacity to repair DNA damages , such damages tend to be retained within
1500-414: A room as forbidding as a dungeon, where they live in a state of odorous untidiness, many of them refusing to wear clothes. Twice a day a bucket and two cups are brought to the door, to give the inmates a drink. There are 78 patients here and 28 beds. These and other patients on the same floor – a total of 96 – have the use of three toilets, three wash basins and one tub. They cannot be bathed daily because it
1600-466: A room with her nine-year-old first cousin and future husband, David "Day" Lacks (1915–2002). Like most members of her family living in Clover, Lacks worked as a tobacco farmer starting from an early age. She fed the animals, tended the garden, and toiled in the tobacco fields. She attended the designated black school two miles away from the cabin until she had to drop out to help support the family when she
1700-519: A short digital memoir called "Hela Family Stories: Lawrence and Bobbette", with first-hand accounts of their memories of Henrietta Lacks while she was alive and of their own efforts to keep the youngest children out of unsafe living environments following their mother's death. The HeLa Project, a multimedia exhibition to honor Lacks, opened in 2017 in Baltimore at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture . It included
1800-691: A work camp located in a willow curing house adjacent to one of the willow ponds. Winterode worked with them to prepare roads and to harvest the tobacco and willow crops on the property. Additional patients were transferred in July and September, 1911. Construction started on the first large building, A Building in October 1912. Patients were used to work on the construction of the hospital in addition to working in its day-to-day functions. Men were given manual labored work and women had to knit and mend clothing for staff as well as patients (Osborn, Lawrence). As reported in
1900-401: Is a normal process used by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form two daughter cells, and these daughter cells are used to build new tissue or to replace cells that have died because of aging or damage. Healthy cells stop dividing when there is no longer a need for more daughter cells, but cancer cells continue to produce copies. They are also able to spread from one part of
2000-438: Is also the dumping ground for feeble minded negro children and epileptics. The children's buildings are among the most crowded in the institution. One hundred and fifteen girls spend most of their days in a single, long bare play room with virtually nothing to play with. There are so few attendants that the older girls have to carry the helpless ones bodily to and from meals. Not one of the more than 200 boys and girls at Crownsville
2100-468: Is getting any formal schooling at all. Some of the epileptics lie all day on the bare floor. In 1929 there were 55 discharges from Crownsville but 92 deaths. The census began to rise dramatically, until it peaked in 1955 at 2,719 patients. The staff of Crownsville Hospital had been all white until 1948. Through the 1940s, the NAACP had advocated hiring African-American staff but encountered resistance from
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#17327720108822200-703: Is one of the outstanding achievements of 1939. In this building all patients from Spring Grove, Springfield and Eastern Shore State Hospital who are suffering from tuberculosis and who represent a danger to other patients or who need special treatment will be cared for. Excluded from this new, active treatment program at the all-white Springfield Hospital Center were the African-American Crownsville TB patients. On October 29, 1915, two hundred Baltimore City patients were transferred from Bayview Medical Center (now Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center ). There were two physicians in 1920, including
2300-483: Is possible that Elsie was subjected to the pneumoencephalography procedure, where a hole was drilled into a patient's head to drain fluid from the brain, which was then replaced with oxygen or helium to make it easier to see the patient's brain in X-rays. Both Lacks and her husband were Catholic. On January 29, 1951, Lacks went to Johns Hopkins, the only hospital in the area that treated black patients, because she felt
2400-555: Is unknown, but the family believes that it is within a few feet of her mother's gravesite, which for decades was the only one in the family to have been marked with a tombstone. In 2010, Roland Pattillo , a faculty member of the Morehouse School of Medicine who had worked with George Gey and knew the Lacks family, donated a headstone for Lacks. This prompted her family to raise money for a headstone for Elsie Lacks as well, which
2500-746: The Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington , named their new high school focused on medical careers the Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School , becoming the first organization to memorialize her publicly by naming a school in her honor. In 2014, Lacks was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame . In 2017, a minor planet in the main asteroid belt was named " 359426 Lacks " in her honor. In 2018, The New York Times published
2600-463: The telomeres of most cells shorten after each division, eventually causing the cell to die, telomerase extends the cell's telomeres. This is a major reason that cancer cells can accumulate over time, creating tumors. In February 2019, medical scientists announced that iridium attached to albumin , creating a photosensitized molecule , can penetrate cancer cells and, after being irradiated with light (a process called photodynamic therapy ), destroy
2700-411: The 1930s, insulin shock was introduced. Malaria treatment was begun in 1942, in which patients were infected with malaria pathogens. As many as twenty patients at a time were inoculated. According to the 1948 Annual Report, Crownsville had about 1,800 patients, of which 103 patients received shock treatments, 56 patients received malaria/penicillin treatments, and 33 received a lobotomy. Lobotomies were
2800-468: The 2010 episode "Immortal", which Slate referred to as "shockingly close to the true story" and the musical groups Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine and Yeasayer both released songs about Henrietta Lacks and her legacy. Members of the Lacks family wrote their own stories for the first time in 2013, when Lacks's oldest son and his wife, Lawrence and Bobbette Lacks, wrote
2900-704: The 9th annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture in the Turner Auditorium in East Baltimore by Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels and Paul B. Rothman , CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the medical faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , surrounded by several of Lacks's descendants. "Through her life and her immortal cells, Henrietta Lacks made an immeasurable impact on science and medicine that has touched countless lives around
3000-415: The Board of Managers purchased land which had formerly been farmed for willow and tobacco, located at Crownsville, Maryland , for the sum of $ 19,000. On May 23, 1910, Dr. Dan Hempeck was designated the first Superintendent. The facility was founded following a 1908 report of "The Maryland State Lunacy Commission" which stated: It is with a feeling of shame and humiliation that the conditions which exist in
3100-565: The Chairman of the Mental Hygiene Board of Review asked: Why is less being done relatively to relieve the distressing overcrowding at Crownsville than at any of the other institutions or why this institution is allowed a patient per capita cost of $ 1085; an amount less than any of the other hospitals; fifty percent less than two of them...? In a letter to a Johns Hopkins Hospital social worker of December 3, 1956, Dr. Ralph Meng,
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3200-639: The Commissioner of Mental Hygiene. Finally, in 1948, the new superintendent of Crownsville hired the first African-American staff member Vernon Sparks, in the Psychology Department. Gwendolyn Lee was hired later in the Social Work Department. The Crownsville Superintendent still was not permitted to hire African-American staff in direct-care positions. This did not happen until 1952. By 1959, 45-percent of Crownsville's staff
3300-524: The Crownsville Superintendent, expressed his concern that community agencies were not willing to accept their responsibilities in providing services to discharged Crownsville patients. He said: Just as a guess, I would think that about 40% of our patients could be handled without hospitalization if anybody made an effort to do so. Elsie Lacks (born Lucille Elsie Pleasant) was the second-born and eldest daughter of Henrietta Lacks , who
3400-619: The Crownsville community and those with physical, mental, or behavioral challenges, while relieving the state of excess property. CSCC seeks to restore the outer facades of the existing buildings while renovating their interiors to accommodate tenants. The project does not involve developing green-space or former hospital space into standardized housing. CSCC's model is a self sustaining one that involves granting excess revenue, mostly rental income, back to non-profits (primarily those that operate on site). The Crownsville Community Campus project
3500-529: The DNA repair enzyme O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase is observed in several different kinds of cancer (see Misplaced Pages article O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase ). Although a DNA repair deficiency can predispose a cell lineage to develop cancer, increased (rather than decreased) expression of a repair capability may also emerge in the progression of cancer cell lineages, and this capability may be clinically important as reviewed by Lingg et al. For instance,
3600-407: The DNA repair gene DMC1 encodes a protein that is normally expressed only in cells undergoing meiosis where it helps maintain an undamaged germ-line . However, DMC1 is also expressed in various cancer cell lines including cervical, breast, and lymphoma cancer cell lines. Expression of meiotic DNA repair genes such as DMC1 may promote tumor cell growth by dealing with endogenous DNA damage within
3700-528: The Division for the "Feebleminded" were found on inspection to be completely without clothes." A visitor to the Division for the Feebleminded at Crownsville described his experiences in a memo of November 2, 1944 to the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene (Dr. Preston). After praising the appearance of the girls' ward, he described the boys' ward as follows: The boys side was very dirty, the boys themselves,
3800-650: The Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act of 2019 became law; it states the Government Accountability Office must complete a study about barriers to participation that exist in cancer clinical trials that are federally funded for populations that have been underrepresented in such trials. In October 2021, the University of Bristol unveiled a statue of Lacks at Royal Fort House in
3900-573: The Hospital, the Auxiliary, Paul Lurz, and Doris Morgenstern Wachsler. The State of Maryland is examining possible uses for the property. A number of different development models are being proposed as follows. [ data missing ] A local non-profit community organization called Community Services Center at Crownsville is concerned about development and the impacts it would have on local traffic, security, historic resources, green space, and
4000-628: The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in November 1950, four and a half months before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Zakariyya believed his birth to be a miracle as he was "fighting off the cancer cells growing all around him". Around the same time, Elsie was placed in the Hospital for the Negro Insane, later renamed Crownsville Hospital Center , where she died in 1955 at 15 years of age. Historian Paul Lurz says that it
4100-403: The Lacks family about the genetic information that was available for public access. Jeri Lacks Whye, a grandchild of Henrietta Lacks, said to The New York Times , "the biggest concern was privacy—what information was actually going to be out there about our grandmother, and what information they can obtain from her sequencing that will tell them about her children and grandchildren and going down
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4200-560: The Lacks family in two articles published in 2000 and 2001 and in her 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . Skloot worked with Deborah Lacks, who was determined to learn more about her mother, on the book. She used her first royalty check from the book to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which has provided funds like college tuition and medical procedures for Henrietta's family. HBO announced in 2010 that Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball were developing
4300-730: The Separate Care and Treatment of the Colored Insane of This State" stated three reasons for creating the hospital. However, five years later, about four hundred black people were still improperly cared for in dark cells, restrained with chains, and sleeping on straw (Bowlin, Lauren). In chapter 250 of the Laws of Maryland of 1910, an attempt was made to improve the conditions under which the black mentally ill had to live in Maryland (Bowlin, Lauren). The first group of 12 patients arrived at Crownsville on March 13, 1911. Patients lived in
4400-498: The State Lunacy Commission Report of December 1912, patients worked as "hod carriers" and assistants to electricians and plumbers. Construction necessitated that they push "barrows of concrete up a tramway three and a half stories in height." They excavated "10,000 cubic yards of earth in about 10 weeks." In addition, they unloaded 238 cars of cement, stone, and other building materials. "The laundry work for
4500-504: The State among the negro insane are chronicled and known to the public. Righteous indignation cannot help being aroused when one sees or reads of the most horrible cruelties being practiced upon these unfortunates.... The most urgent need at this time is a hospital for the negro insane of Maryland.... As early as 1899, the Maryland Lunacy Commission stated in its Annual Report: At present there are no negro insane at
4600-598: The United States government. On December 19, 2022, it was announced that a bronze statue honoring Henrietta Lacks would be erected in Roanoke, Virginia 's Henrietta Lacks Plaza, previously named Lee Plaza after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee . A statue of Lee was removed from the site in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd. The Lacks statue was unveiled on October 4, 2023. On June 13, 2023, Loudoun County Public Schools Board members approved
4700-536: The WHO, said: "I cannot think of any other single cell line or lab reagent that's been used to this extent and has resulted in so many advances." On March 15, 2022, United States Rep. Kwesi Mfume (D-Md) filed legislation to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Henrietta Lacks for her distinguished contributions to science. The award is one of the most prestigious civilian honors given by
4800-719: The body or invade other tissues. Malignant tumors can invade other organs, spread to distant locations ( metastasis ) and become life-threatening. More than one mutation is necessary for carcinogenesis. In fact, a series of several mutations to certain classes of genes is usually required before a normal cell will transform into a cancer cell. Damage to DNA can be caused by exposure to radiation, chemicals, and other environmental sources, but mutations also accumulate naturally over time through uncorrected errors in DNA transcription , making age another risk factor. Oncoviruses can cause certain types of cancer, and genetics are also known to play
4900-409: The body to another in a process known as metastasis . There are different categories of cancer cell, defined according to the cell type from which they originate. Cancer cells have distinguishing histological features visible under the microscope. The nucleus is often large and irregular, and the cytoplasm may also display abnormalities. The shape, size, protein composition, and texture of
5000-508: The campus are occupied by various tenants. The site is also the location of Crownsville Hospital's patient cemetery . This historic site was rededicated in 2004. Approximately 1,600 patients are buried in graves marked by numbers only, with the more recent having patient names. Information on Crownsville Hospital can be found in the Maryland State Archives Collections, which contain reference materials from
5100-715: The cancer cells. Crownsville Hospital Center The Crownsville Hospital Center was a psychiatric hospital located in Crownsville, Maryland . It was in operation from 1911 until 2004. Crownsville Hospital Center was enabled by an act of the Maryland General Assembly on April 11, 1910 as the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland . This act also explicitly specified that the facility should not be located in Baltimore . On December 13, 1910,
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#17327720108825200-435: The cell at an increased level. These damages, upon replication of the cell’s DNA, may cause replication errors, including mutations that lead to cancer. Numerous inherited DNA repair disorders have been described that increase cancer risk (see Misplaced Pages article DNA repair-deficiency disorder ). In addition, particular DNA repair enzymes have been found to be deficient in multiple cancers. For example, deficient expression of
5300-636: The city. The sculpture was created by Helen Wilson-Roe and was the first statue of a black woman made by a black woman for a public space in the United Kingdom. On October 13, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented the Director General Award to Lawrence Lacks, the son of Henrietta Lacks, in recognition of her unknowing contribution to science and medicine. Soumya Swaminathan , chief scientist at
5400-500: The community, and has been seeking the authority to control the 447 acres (181 ha) of State owned excess property which includes the former Crownsville Hospital Center. CSCC's project is called the Crownsville Community Campus with a mission as follows: Through the conservation of the former Crownsville Hospital Center, Community Services Center at Crownsville, Inc. will cultivate a vibrant campus to serve
5500-412: The condition as blood disease, and named it leukämie in 1847 (later anglicised to leukemia ). In 1857, he was the first to describe a type of tumour called chordoma that originated from the clivus (at the base of the skull ). Cancer cells have unique features that make them "immortal" according to some researchers. The enzyme telomerase is used to extend the cancer cell's life span. While
5600-525: The conference is held to give recognition to Henrietta Lacks, her cell line, and "the valuable contribution made by African Americans to medical research and clinical practice". The mayor of Atlanta declared the date of the first conference, October 11, 1996, "Henrietta Lacks Day". Lacks's contributions continue to be celebrated at yearly events in Turner Station. At one such event in 1997, then-U.S. Congressman from Maryland, Robert Ehrlich , presented
5700-576: The corner of Ashland and Rutland Avenues and "will support programs that enhance participation and partnership with members of the community in research that can benefit the community, as well as extend the opportunities to further study and promote research ethics and community engagement in research through an expansion of the Berman Institute and its work." In 2020, Lacks was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . In 2021,
5800-693: The couple to leave the tobacco farm in Virginia and move to Turner Station, near Dundalk, Maryland , in Baltimore County , so Day could work in Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point, Maryland . Not long after they moved to Maryland, Garrett was called to fight in World War II . With the savings gifted to him by Garrett, Day Lacks was able to purchase a house at 713 New Pittsburgh Avenue in Turner Station. Now part of Dundalk, Turner Station
5900-547: The dormitories and dayroom. Sitting at dinner were twenty seven boys completely nude, most of them spilling food all over themselves. There was on that day only one attendant on the boys' side who was definitely working hard. The Baltimore Sun ' s articles on Maryland's mental health system were published in 1948–1949 under the title "MARYLAND'S SHAME". Following are statements from the articles relating to Crownsville: More than 1800 men, women and children are herded into its buildings meant for not more than 1,100. Crownsville
6000-443: The extraction or use of the HeLa cells. Even though some information about the origins of HeLa's immortalized cell lines was known to researchers after 1970, the Lacks family was not made aware of the line's existence until 1975. With knowledge of the cell line's genetic provenance becoming public, its use for medical research and for commercial purposes continues to raise concerns about privacy and patients' rights. Henrietta Lacks
6100-402: The first researcher to study Lacks's cancerous cells, observed that these cells were unusual in that they reproduced at a very high rate and could be kept alive long enough to allow more in-depth examination. Until then, cells cultured for laboratory studies survived for only a few days at most, which was not long enough to perform a variety of different tests on the same sample. Lacks's cells were
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#17327720108826200-412: The first to be observed that could be divided multiple times without dying, which is why they became known as "immortal". After Lacks's death, Gey had Mary Kubicek, his lab assistant, take further HeLa samples while Henrietta's body was at Johns Hopkins' autopsy facility. The roller-tube technique was the method used to culture the cells obtained from the samples that Kubicek collected. Gey was able to start
6300-474: The globe for "research into cancer , AIDS , the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping , and countless other scientific pursuits". HeLa cells were the first human cells successfully cloned, in 1955, and have since been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. There are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells. In the early 1970s, a large portion of other cell cultures became contaminated by HeLa cells. As
6400-493: The greater good. The JJ Doom album Key to the Kuffs (2012) includes the song "Winter Blues" that contains the lyrics "We could live forever like Henrietta Lacks cells". Yeasayer wrote a song about Lacks, entitled "Henrietta," for their 2012 album Fragrant World . Cancer cell Cancer cells are cells that divide continually, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood or lymph with abnormal cells. Cell division
6500-436: The hospital's census declining from 2,719 in 1955 to 200 patients by the year 2000 and zero soon after. The hospital grounds became the central county site for many social, school, and health programs, and the hospital finally closed in July 2004. Those patients in need of further psychiatric hospitalization were transferred to two of Maryland's remaining hospitals. Its original buildings are still standing and today portions of
6600-494: The line." That same year another group working on a different HeLa cell line's genome under National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, submitted it for publication. In August 2013, an agreement was announced between the family and the NIH that gave the family some control over access to the cells' DNA sequence found in the two studies along with a promise of acknowledgement in scientific papers. In addition, two family members will join
6700-508: The name of the new school, Henrietta Lacks Elementary School, in Aldie, Virginia . The school will serve 960 students from kindergarten through 2nd grade and is expected to open in August 2024. The question of how and whether her race affected her treatment, the lack of obtaining consent, and her relative obscurity continues to be controversial. The HeLa cell line's connection to Henrietta Lacks
6800-441: The nucleus are often altered in malignant cells . The nucleus may acquire grooves, folds or indentations, chromatin may aggregate or disperse, and the nucleolus can become enlarged. In normal cells, the nucleus is often round or solid in shape, but in cancer cells the outline is often irregular. Different combinations of abnormalities are characteristic of different cancer types, to the extent that nuclear appearance can be used as
6900-616: The oldest documented malignant hominin cancer. The understanding of cancer was significantly advanced during the Renaissance period and in to the Age of Discovery . Sir Rudolf Virchow , a German biologist and politician , studied microscopic pathology, and linked his observations to illness. He is described as "the founder of cellular pathology". In 1845, Virchow and John Hughes Bennett independently observed abnormal increase in white blood cells in patients. Virchow correctly identified
7000-419: The patients is done by two adult males and an epileptic imbecile 10 years of age who has been taught to feed the ringer [ sic ] and at which he has become quite adept. During the past year (1912) these three have washed and ironed over 40,000 pieces." Within a short time smallpox and scarlet fever struck the patients. Water quality was also cited as a problem in those early years. Tuberculosis
7100-544: The pediatrics section of the Winterode Building for the feebleminded, there are 38 children including spastics, hydrocephalics and microcephalics. These children require expert nursing care but on our visit to this section there was one registered nurse on duty. It is necessary to have several female patients assist in the care of these children." In a letter to the Maryland Governor of June 23, 1952,
7200-549: The portrait was jointly acquired by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian 's National Portrait Gallery . The wallpaper in the painting is made up of the "Flower of Life" alluding to the immortality of her cells. The flowers on her dress resemble images of cell structures, and the two missing buttons on her dress symbolize her cells taken without permission. NBC's Law & Order aired its own fictionalized version of Lacks's story in
7300-413: The preceding five-year period, the average number of deaths per 1,000 patients was 102 at Crownsville, in contrast to 59 and 60 for the two large hospitals serving white patients. The report also mentioned a problem relating to the availability of clothes for the "feebleminded" patients of Crownsville: "Some serious problems relating to supplies have occurred so that on one recent occasion some 25 patients in
7400-480: The present day. Lacks was the unwitting source of these cells from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore , Maryland, in 1951. These cells were then cultured by George Otto Gey , who created the cell line known as HeLa, which is still used for medical research. As was then the practice, no consent was required to culture the cells obtained from Lacks's treatment. Neither she nor her family were compensated for
7500-399: The privilege of freedom of the grounds." Staff shortages were always a problem. In 1953, Superintendent Dr. Eichert reported that in "A" Building there were 560 patients and four attendants in the evening and four in the day. The Baltimore Sun of June 1953 gives a description of the "old ward for highly disturbed women": "Here are truly the creatures of the dark. The sickest ones are kept in
7600-430: The second hospital (Springfield) and the comparatively small number at Spring Grove is a distinct embarrassment to the institution. Again in its 1900 report it stated: The condition of the negro insane at Montevue Hospital at Frederick is shameful and should at once be remedied. The beasts of the field are better cared for than the poor negroes at Montevue. In 1888, an article titled "The Need of An Asylum or Hospital for
7700-515: The series El Ministerio del Tiempo , the immortality of her cells in the lab is cited as the precedent for the character Arteche's "extreme resistance to infections, to injuries, and to cellular degeneration. In other words to aging": that his cells are immortal. In the Netflix original movie Project Power (2020), the case of Henrietta Lacks is cited by one of the villains of the story as an example of unwilling trials giving rise to advances for
7800-510: The six-member committee that will regulate access to the sequence data. In October 2021, Lacks's estate filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific for profiting from the HeLa cell line without Lacks's consent, asking for "the full amount of [Thermo Fisher's] net profits". On July 31, 2023, Thermo Fisher Scientific settled with the Lacks family on undisclosed terms. In 1996, Morehouse School of Medicine held its first annual HeLa Women's Health Conference. Led by physician Roland Pattillo ,
7900-465: The superintendent, with a patient census of 521. There were also 17 nurses and attendants, one social worker, and 18 other help. The data from the 1920 U.S. Census report has the average age of Crownsville patients at 42 years. The youngest was 14 years and there were three patients in their eighties. In the occupations' section of the report, 68% were listed as holding hospital job assignments. Therapies initially included hydrotherapy and sedatives . In
8000-475: The surface of the cell. These work to help macrophages detect and kill cancer cells. Early evidence of human cancer can be interpreted from Egyptian papers (1538 BCE) and mummified remains. In 2016, a 1.7 million year old osteosarcoma was reported by Edward John Odes (a doctoral student in Anatomical Sciences from Witwatersrand Medical School, South Africa) and colleagues, representing
8100-539: The ten years prior to its closing, it hosted students from Israel, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Turkey, and Chile. The Hospital also trained Spanish speaking therapists when that need was identified. The hospital staff was well known for its outspoken resistance to the pressures to place patients in public shelters, with the resulting "dumping" of patients onto the streets and into the jails. Improvements in psychiatric treatment, rigid admission policies, and better funding of outpatient treatment and residential services resulted in
8200-421: The tumor, and may also diminish the effectiveness of anticancer therapy, such as radiation therapy . Cells playing roles in the immune system, such as T-cells , are thought to use a dual receptor system when they determine whether or not to kill sick or damaged human cells. If a cell is under stress, turning into tumors, or infected, molecules including MIC-A and MIC-B are produced so that they can attach to
8300-420: The world," Daniels said. "This building will stand as a testament to her transformative impact on scientific discovery and the ethics that must undergird its pursuit. We at Johns Hopkins are profoundly grateful to the Lacks family for their partnership as we continue to learn from Mrs. Lacks's life and to honor her enduring legacy." The building will adjoin the Berman Institute of Bioethics' Deering Hall, located at
8400-469: Was 31 years old, went to Johns Hopkins for a routine treatment session and asked to be admitted due to continued severe abdominal pain. She received blood transfusions and remained at the hospital until her death on October 4, 1951. A partial autopsy showed that the cancer had metastasized throughout her entire body. Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave in the family cemetery, in a section of Clover, Virginia, called Lackstown. Lacks's exact burial location
8500-415: Was 38.43. The percentage of deaths calculated upon admissions due to tuberculosis was 29.85. The percentage of deaths based upon average attendance was 32.21." Tuberculosis remained a problem for many years. It was not until 1939 that the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene announced: "The opening at Springfield State Hospital of a separate building for the care of mental patients suffering from tuberculosis
8600-481: Was African-American, in contrast to 6- to 8-percent in the other large state mental hospitals. The adolescent patient population was integrated in 1962 and the adult population in 1963. An earlier integration attempt had been made in December 1954 when the Crownsville Superintendent transferred 15 children ages 2–6 years from Crownsville to the all-white Rosewood State Training School. The Superintendent of Crownsville
8700-496: Was a constant threat and is mentioned in the annual reports of those early years because there was no real provision for the isolation of the patients, except in the summer months when there was a temporary open building for them. The Annual and Biennial Report of the State Lunacy Commission 1914–1915, in the section on Crownsville Hospital, stated that "the percentage of deaths based upon admissions (268 patients)
8800-403: Was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia , to Eliza Pleasant (née Lacks) (1886–1924) and John "Johnny" Randall Pleasant (1881–1969). She is remembered as having hazel eyes, a small waist, size 6 shoes, and always wearing red nail polish and a neatly pleated skirt. Her family is uncertain how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta, but she was nicknamed Hennie. When Lacks
8900-560: Was brought up in the Supreme Court of California case of Moore v. Regents of the University of California in 1990. The court ruled that a person's discarded tissue and cells are not their property and can be commercialized. In March 2013, researchers published the DNA sequence of the genome of a strain of HeLa cells. The Lacks family discovered this when the author Rebecca Skloot informed them. There were objections from
9000-471: Was continuing to be used for medical research. Prior to this, the family had never discussed Henrietta's illness and death among themselves. Neither Henrietta Lacks nor her family had given her physicians permission to harvest her cells. At that time, permission was neither required nor customarily sought. The cells were used in medical research and for commercial purposes. In the 1980s, family medical records were published without family consent. A similar issue
9100-456: Was dedicated on the same day. The book-shaped headstone of Henrietta Lacks contains an epitaph written by her grandchildren that reads: Henrietta Lacks, August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951 In loving memory of a phenomenal woman, wife and mother who touched the lives of many. Here lies Henrietta Lacks (HeLa). Her immortal cells will continue to help mankind forever. Eternal Love and Admiration, From Your Family George Otto Gey,
9200-467: Was explained, hot water is not available every day." The Baltimore City Grand Jury Report for Fall 1955 reported that: "This committee was shocked at the lack of professional personnel at Crownsville. On one ward, which consists of 76 geriatric patients, there is either one registered nurse or an attendant on duty at a time. Many of these patients must be spoon fed... The Patients who are well enough help feed those who are less fortunate than themselves." In
9300-528: Was first brought to popular attention in March 1976 with a pair of articles in the Detroit Free Press and Rolling Stone written by reporter Michael Rogers , though Rogers erroneously states her name as Helen Lane. In 1998, Adam Curtis directed a BBC documentary about Henrietta Lacks called The Way of All Flesh . Rebecca Skloot documented extensive histories of both the HeLa cell line and
9400-483: Was four years old in 1924, her mother died giving birth to her tenth child. Unable to care for the children alone after his wife's death, Lacks's father moved the family to Clover, Virginia , where the children were distributed among relatives. Lacks ended up with her maternal grandfather, Thomas "Tommy" Henry Lacks, in a two-story log cabin that was once the slave quarters on the plantation that had been owned by Henrietta's white great-grandfather and great-uncle. She shared
9500-533: Was in the sixth grade. When Lacks was 14 years old, she gave birth to a son, Lawrence Lacks (1935–2023). In 1939, her daughter Elsie Lacks (1939–1955) was born. Both children were fathered by Day Lacks. Elsie had epilepsy and cerebral palsy and was described by the family as "different" or "deaf and dumb". On April 10, 1941, David "Day" Lacks and Henrietta Lacks were married in Halifax County, Virginia . Later that year, their cousin, Fred Garrett, convinced
9600-477: Was one of the oldest and largest African-American communities in Baltimore County at that time. Living in Maryland, Henrietta and Day Lacks had three more children: David "Sonny" Lacks Jr. (1947–2022), Deborah Lacks (later known as Deborah Lacks Pullum, 1949–2009), and Joseph Lacks (later known as Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman after converting to Islam, 1950–2020). Henrietta gave birth to her last child at
9700-799: Was the source of the famous HeLa cell line. Elsie was institutionalized here for epilepsy until she died in 1955 at the age of 15. In 1964, Dr. George McKenzie Phillips was appointed, the first African-American superintendent. Dr. Phillips established a day treatment program and a school mental health outreach program, in addition to supporting the mental health clinics in Baltimore and the Southern Maryland Counties. Patients in Crownsville clinics were given free medication. Training programs were established in psychiatry , psychology , social work , dance therapy , and pastoral counseling . Crownsville had an active foreign students' program for those in medicine, social work, and psychology. In
9800-490: Was threatened with a reprimand by the Commissioner of Mental Health and resigned the next year (1955). Industrial therapy (unpaid work) was an important part of life at Crownsville. In the spring of 1958, more than 600 patients had work assignments in more than 55 placements, which included "dental assistant," "receptionist," "librarian," and "hospital aide." Work was considered to be part of therapy, and "patients unable or unwilling to participate were considered too ill to enjoy
9900-400: Was told that she had a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. In 1970, physicians discovered that she had been misdiagnosed and actually had an adenocarcinoma . This was a common mistake at the time, and the treatment would not have differed. Lacks was treated with radium tube inserts as an inpatient and discharged a few days later with instructions to return for X-ray treatments as
10000-564: Was using HeLa cells in his research to develop the polio vaccine . To test his new vaccine, the cells were mass-produced in the first-ever cell production factory. Additionally, Chester M. Southam , a leading virologist, injected HeLa cells into cancer patients, prison inmates, and healthy individuals in order to observe whether cancer could be transmitted as well as to examine if one could become immune to cancer by developing an acquired immune response. HeLa cells were in high demand and put into mass production. They were mailed to scientists around
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