Medicinski fenomen: Ko je žena koja je umrla 1951. godine, a čije ćelije i dalje žive

Foto: Pixabay.com / Ćelije raka

Ime Henrijete Laks, upisano je u medicinske udžbenike, a njene "besmrtne" ćelije su decenijama korišćene u izuzetno važne medicinske svrhe.

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Ovoj Afroamerikanki iz siromašne porodice poreklom iz Virdžinije, koja je rasla na plantažama duvana, dijagnostifikovan je kancer cerviksa početkom 1951. godine, kada je imala 30 godina.

Lečila se u "Džons Hopkinsu" pošto je to bila najbliža bolnica koja je primala pacijente Afroamerikance. Lekar Hauard Džons je prilikom pregleda uzeo uzorak izrasline sa Henrijetinog cerviksa i poslao ga u patološku laboratoriju gde je ubrzo utvrđeno da je reč o ćelijama raka, malignom epidermoidu.

Upućena je na zračenje, a tokom tretmana uzeta su joj još dva uzorka ćelija i predata američkom naučniku nemačkog porekla Džordžu Oto Geju. Oto Gej je baš u to vreme osnovao Laboratoriju za kulture tkiva i osmislio nekoliko aparata koji su pomogli laboratorijskom uzgoju ćelija, pa je počeo da "uzgaja" ćelije kancera iz Henrijetinog cerviksa, prenosi portal Nauka kroz priče.

Za razliku od prethodnih pokušaja uzgoja ćelija koje je uspevao da održi u životu samo nekoliko dana, Gej je otkrio da pojedine Henrijetine ćelije neprekidno bujaju i ne umiru nakon nekoliko deoba, pa je njihovim razmnožavanjem uspeo da stvori liniju ćelija. U oktobru 1951. godine Henrijeta Laks je umrla od raka koji je metastazirao po čitavom organizmu, ali se njene ćelije nastale iz uzorka tkiva i danas neprekidno razmnožavaju, žive i umiru u laboratoriji. Lanac ovih ćelija postao je besmrtan – održava se decenijama i poznat je kao HeLa linija ćelija.

 

 

 

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Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Henrietta Lacks (1920 -1951) commonly referred to as “the mother of modern medicine." Her cells have been used in experiments in labs around the world but were cultivated without her consent. Eventually, her story led to the rewriting of the rules around ethics in healthcare. Lacks, an African American tobacco farmer was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer in 1951. Her doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore obtained a biopsy from her cervix for diagnosis and treatment. A small part of her tissue was taken to the tissue culture laboratory without Lacks’ knowledge or consent, a common practice at the time. Nobody had yet successfully been able to keep human cells alive for a long period of time outside the body until Lacks' arrival. Dr George Gey, who was head of the tissue culture laboratory found that Lacks’ cells survived. From there, Lacks' cells were dubbed 'HeLa cells' by scientists to disguise their origin and became the first cells found to also replicate outside of the human body in culture & would go on to become the "most prolific and widely used human cell line in biology." Lacks sadly died from the disease 10 months after arriving at hospital at age 31, and was buried in an unmarked grave while her cells continue to be vital to studying diseases, (including covid-19 today) as well as for developing vaccines, HPV and for IVF. They have become the foundation of a multibillion-dollar industry. There are more than 17,000 patents and over 110,000 medical publications involving HeLa cells. Sadly however all of this was without Lacks' or her family's informed consent. In fact, the world only came to know about her contribution to medicine in the 1971, after Dr. Gey's colleagues published an article in a medical journal with Lacks' name in it and two years later Lacks' own family learned of her contributions after one of Lacks' daughters-in-law had dinner with a friend whose husband was a cancer researcher. Read more about this incredible story. #HenriettaLacks #science #medicine #health #blackhistoryA post shared by A r o n G a l a (@aron_gala) on Aug 2, 2020 at 3:01pm PDT

Osim što je sam podatak o uzgoju besmrtnih ćelija fascinantan, suština njihovog uzgajanja je da se koriste za brojna medicinska testiranja. One su, na primer, u narednim godinama poslužile da se napravi vakcina za dečju paralizu, koja je na njima testirana. Zatim, HeLa ćelije su bile prve ljudske ćelije koje su uspešno klonirane 1955. godine, a u to vreme već su bile u masovnoj proizvodnji i istraživači su ih sve češće potraživali. Korišćene su za ispitivanje side, efekata raznih lekova i hemijskih supstanci, zatim raka i niza drugih bolesti.

Zahvaljujući njima, naučna zajednica je došla do oko 11.000 patenata i uzgojeno je do danas, procenjuje se, oko 20 tona HeLa ćelija. Iako čak nije poznato ni gde je tačno grobno mesto gde je Henrijeta Laks sahranjena, na naknadno postavljenom nadgrobnom spomeniku zapisano je da će njene besmrtne ćelije zauvek nastaviti da pomažu čovečanstvu.

(Telegraf.rs)