HeLa: Medical Benefits, Legal Debates and Ethical Issues

This article explores the medical benefits, legal debates, and ethical issues surrounding HeLa cells. It covers the history of clinical research, uses of HeLa cells, legal debates, and ethical issues. The article also discusses the medical benefits derived from HeLa cells, including the development of the HPV vaccine and mapping of the human genome. Additionally, it delves into the legal debates surrounding the use of HeLa cells without consent and the ethical issues surrounding privacy and ownership of genetic materials.

Running Head: HeLa
0
HeLa
student

HeLa
1
Table of Contents
Uses of HeLa cells.......................................................................................................................................2
Medical benefits deprived by HeLa cells.................................................................................................3
Legal debates...........................................................................................................................................3
Ethical issues...........................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................6

HeLa
2
Medical law and ethics
Uses of HeLa cells
History of clinical research in the use of HeLa cells is not new; investigators have been
using this invention for many years. In the early 1950s Jonas Salk had created a polio vaccine,
nevertheless was struggling to identify a method to examine in the field trials as the
conventionally used cells of rhesus monkey were actually very costly for this kind of big-scale
scale investigations (Lucey, Nelson-Rees, & Hutchins, 2009). In the year of 1952 HeLa cells
were identified which was both susceptible to, however not damaged by polio, causing them an
ideal home of the host cells. After the successful distribution of these cells for the vaccine of
polio, the temperature sensitive nature characteristic of these cells likewise allow the
investigators to use the multiple incubators and apply fresh shipment solution (Callaway, 2013).
They were also used in chromosomal counting. In 1953 Rebecca Skloot mentioned in her
published book about how investigator enabled to see the chromosome clearly in HeLa cells.
Two other scientists name Harris and Watkins developed the first ever human-animal hybrid in
the year of 1965 (Skloot, 2013). The fused the HeLa cells with the mice cells, this enabled great
progress in mapping genes for a particular chromosome. Further, in 1980, these particular cells
were used in the vaccines for human papillomavirus. Henrietta's cells were originated to
comprise the HPV-18 by a scientist named Harald Zur Hausen (Rosenberger, Arce, Langbein,
Steenbergen& Rösl, 2010). HeLa cells have been used in numerous other unimaginable
advances in the field of science and medicine. It was the first cells that were successfully
multiplied and the first human cells that were sent into space.

HeLa
3
Medical benefits derived by HeLa cells
A German virologist named Harald Zur Hausen revealed that the HeLa cells contained
numerous copies of the HPV-18, a type of strain of the HPV later found to be the causing factor
of cancer hat actually killed Henrietta Lacks. This knowledge about the HPV strains enabled the
scientist to use it in developing HPV vaccines in teenage girls. These cells gave the scientist an
idea how some cells are manage to stay young for long time (Yim, et al., 2009). The enzyme
called telomerase protects the chromosomes form degrading, and enabling the cells to keep
multiplying actively. HeLa cells were used by scientist named Gregg Morin to isolate the similar
enzyme in the human cells. Polio was one of the deadly diseases at the time of Lack’s death, and
the HeLa cells derived from Lacks helped the scientist to develop the vaccine. The HeLa cells
were used to test the vaccine which was the main problem faced by the scientist, HeLa cells
allowed them the test the vaccine successfully, this helped in eradicating Polio from different
parts of the world (Ursano, 2012). The HeLa cells also helped in mapping the human genome,
which was done by fusing these cells with the mouse cells and creating the first recorded human
animal hybrid cells. Later the scientist also tested the HIV medicine on HeLa cells for better
understanding of HIV functioning (Nagaraj, et al., 2011).
Legal Debates
The cells were taken from Henrietta Lacks and used for clinical use for many years
without any consent and financial support to the Lacks family. The consent was surely the main
ethical issues and privacy was another (Beskow, 2016). Ms Henrietta was publically recognised
as the origin and Source of the HeLa cells which affect her privacy rights and she suffered for
many years, people used the cells for research without the knowledge of the family. Although
informing the diseased person or their family members about the use of their sample via medical

HeLa
4
process was not essential in 1951.it is also knowledgeable that lacks family received an
agreement with NIH related to the access to HeLa genome. Therefore the researchers were not
restricted to access the data and Lack’s genome information was not entirely private (Moore,
2017). Although many researchers or social professionals debated that the Lacks family should
have provided with some funds as they were very poor. Henrietta Lacks was killed due to cancer
after the biopsy, but the problems for his family did not end there (Masters, 2002). Her family
had no information about the Genome use for nearly 20 years until the investigators have begun
to doing research on her children. The book titled immortal life of Henrietta Lacks stated other
ethical issues and report that someone intensely at Hopkins provides the medical record of
Henrietta to the Journalist. And Skloot reported that no one in Lacks family was aware of this
(Ncayiyana, 2011).
Ethical issues
There is a different question about ethics, race and genetics raised from Henrietta's story.
The book based on Lacks case encouraged the readers of the book, to think about the dark
history of the medical experimentation on the African Americans, the beginning of bioethics, and
the battle on who should own and control the genetic materials (Njoku, 2013). Ethical
considerations with the genetic testing indicate that the patient and their families should be well-
informed decision-related to the genetic testing, as it does not impact the single person but can
also impact the whole family in future (Beskow, 2016). But in case of Lacks family, this was the
main issue; they were not even informed for years; their children were used for taking genetic
material and to use it in further research. However, it was decided that before doing any NIH
funded research associated with HeLa cells, must require the approval from the boar that

HeLa
5
involves at least two people form Lacks family and they should be the forefront of every research
(Moore, 2017).

HeLa
6
References
Baker, S. (2011). Life after death: an activity to investigate the scientific, legal, & racial issues of
the Henrietta Lacks story. The American Biology Teacher, 73(6), 337-340.
Beskow, L. M. (2016). Lessons from HeLa cells: the ethics and policy of biospecimens. Annual
review of genomics and human genetics, 17, 395-417.
Callaway, E. (2013). Deal done over HeLa cell line. Nature News, 500(7461), 132.
Lucey, B. P., Nelson-Rees, W. A., & Hutchins, G. M. (2009). Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and
cell culture contamination. Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine, 133(9), 1463-
1467.
Masters, J. R. (2002). HeLa cells 50 years on: the good, the bad and the ugly. Nature Reviews
Cancer, 2(4), 315.
Moore, M. R. (2017). Opposed to the being of Henrietta: bioslavery, pop culture and the third
life of HeLa cells. Medical Humanities, 43(1), 55-61.
Nagaraj, N., Wisniewski, J. R., Geiger, T., Cox, J., Kircher, M., Kelso, J., & Mann, M. (2011).
Deep proteome and transcriptome mapping of a human cancer cell line. Molecular
systems biology, 7(1), 548.
Ncayiyana, D. J. (2011). The extraordinary story of the life after death of Henrietta
Lacks. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 101(3), 141-141.
Njoku, D. B. (2013). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 117(1), 286.

HeLa
7
Rosenberger, S., Arce, J. D. C., Langbein, L., Steenbergen, R. D., & Rösl, F. (2010). Alternative
splicing of human papillomavirus type-16 E6/E6* early mRNA is coupled to EGF
signaling via Erk1/2 activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 107(15), 7006-7011.
Skloot, R. (2013). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, the sequel. New York Times, 23.
Ursano, R. J. (2012). Science calls her HeLa. Psychiatry, 75(2), 101-102.
Yim, E. K., Tong, S. Y., Ho, E. M., Bae, J. H., Um, S. J., & Park, J. S. (2009). Anticancer effects
on TACC3 by treatment of paclitaxel in HPV-18 positive cervical carcinoma
cells. Oncology reports, 21(2), 549-557.