The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (49 page)

Growth of the L-cell (the first immortal cell line, grown from a mouse) was documented in W R. Earle et al., “Production of Malignancy in Vitro. IV. The Mouse Fibroblast Cultures and Changes Seen in Living Cells,”
Journal of the NCI
4 (1943).

For information about Gey’s pre-HeLa cell culture work, see G. O. Gey, “Studies on the Cultivation of Human Tissue Outside the Body,”
Wisconsin JJ
. 28, no. 11 (1929); G. O. Gey and M. K. Gey, “The Maintenance of Human Normal Cells and Human Tumor Cells in Continuous Culture I. A Preliminary Report,”
American Journal of Cancer
27, no. 45 (May 1936); an overview can be found in G. Gey, F Bang, and M. Gey, “An Evaluation of Some Comparative Studies on Cultured Strains of Normal and Malignant Cells in Animals and Man,”
Texas Reports on Biology and Medicine
(Winter 1954).

For information on Gey’s development of the roller drum, see “An Improved Technic for Massive Tissue Culture,”
American Journal of Cancer
17
(1933); for his early work filming cells, see G. O. Gey and W. M. Firor, “Phase Contrast Microscopy of Living Cells,”
Annals of Surgery
125 (1946). For the abstract he eventually published documenting the initial growth of the HeLa cell line, see G. O. Gey, W. D. Coffman, and M. T. Kubicek, “Tissue Culture Studies of the Proliferative Capacity of Cervical Carcinoma and Normal Epithelium,”
Cancer Research
12 (1952): 264–65. For a thorough discussion of his work on HeLa and other cultures, see G. O. Gey, “Some Aspects of the Constitution and Behavior of Normal and Malignant Cells Maintained in Continuous Culture,”
The Harvey Lecture Series L
(1954–55).

TeLinde’s discussion of the “psychic effects of hysterectomy” can be found in “Hysterectomy: Present-Day Indications,
“ Journal of the Michigan State Medical Society
, July 1949.

Papers from the first HeLa symposium were published in “The HeLa Cancer Control Symposium: Presented at the First Annual Women’s Health Conference, Morehouse School of Medicine, October 11, 1996,” edited by Roland Pattillo,
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
suppl. 176, no. 6 (June 1997).

For an overview of the Tuskegee study aimed at the general public, see
Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
, by James H. Jones; see also “Final Report of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee,” Vanessa Northington Gamble, chair (May 20, 1996).

For the television segment featuring George Gey, see “Cancer Will Be Conquered,”
Johns Hopkins University: Special Collections Science Review Series
(April 10, 1951).

For additional reading on the history of cell culture, see
Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies
, by Hannah Landecker, the definitive history; also see
The Immortalists: Charles Lindberg, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and Their Daring Quest to Live Forever
, by David M. Friedman. For a general over view of Hopkins’s contributions to cell culture, see “History of Tissue Culture at Johns Hopkins,”
Bulletin of the History of Medicine (1977)
.

To re-create the story of Alexis Carrel and his chicken heart, I relied on these sources and many others: A. Carrel and M. T Burrows, “Cultivation
of Tissues in Vitro and Its Technique,”
Journal of Experimental Medicine
(January 15, 1911); “On the Permanent Life of Tissues Outside of the Organism,”
Journal of Experimental Medicine
(March 15, 1912); Albert H. Ebeling, “A Ten Year Old Strain of Fibroblasts,”
Journal of Experimental Medicine
(May 30, 1922), and “Dr. Carrel’s Immortal Chicken Heart,”
Scientific American
(January 1942); “The ‘Immortality’ of Tissues,”
Scientific American
(October 26, 1912); “On the Trail of Immortality,”
McClure’s
(January 1913); “Herald of Immortality Foresees Suspended Animation,”
Newsweek
(December 21, 1935); “Flesh That Is Immortal,”
World’s Work
28 (October 1914); “Carrel’s New Miracle Points Way to Avert Old Age!”
New York Times Magazine
(September 14, 1913); Alexis Carrel, “The Immortality of Animal Tissue, and Its Significance,”
The Golden Book Magazine
7 (June 1928); and “Men in Black,”
Time
31, number 24 (June 13, 1938). The Nobel Prize website also contains much useful information about Carrel.

For a history of cell culture in Europe, see W. Duncan, “The Early History of Tissue Culture in Britain: The Interwar Years,”
Social History of Medicine
18, no. 2 (2005), and Duncan Wilson, “‘Make Dry Bones Live’: Scientists’ Responses to Changing Cultural Representation of Tissue Culture in Britain, 1918–2004,” dissertation, University of Manchester (2005).

The conclusion that Carrel’s chicken-heart cells were not actually immortal comes from interviews with Leonard Hayflick; also J. Witkowski, “The Myth of Cell Immortality,”
Trends in Biochemical Sciences
(July 1985), and J. Witkowski, letter to the editor,
Science
247 (March 23, 1990).

The newspaper article that documented Henrietta’s address was Jacques Kelly, “Her Cells Made Her Immortal,”
Baltimore Sun
, March 18, 1997. The article by Michael Rogers was “The Double-Edged Helix,”
Rolling Stone
(March 25, 1976).

For reports of the decline of Clover, see, for example, “South Boston, Halifax County, Virginia,” an Economic Study by Virginia Electric and Power Company; “Town Begins to Move Ahead,”
Gazette-Virginian
(May 23, 1974); “Town Wants to Disappear,”
Washington Times
(May 15, 1988); and “Supes Decision Could End Clover’s Township,”
Gazette-Virginian
(May 18, 1998); “Historical Monograph: Black Walnut Plantation Rural Historic District, Halifax County, Virginia,” Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (April 1996). Population figures are available at census.gov.

For a discussion of the history of court decisions and rights regarding autopsies, see
Subjected to Science
, by Susan Lederer.

For further reading on the history of the polio vaccine, see
The Virus and the Vaccine
, by Debbie Bookchin and Jim Shumacher;
Polio: An American Story
, by David M. Oshinski;
Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
, by Jeffrey Kluger; and
The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Crisis in Vaccines
, by Paul Offit.

Details of the initial growth of poliovirus using HeLa cells, and the subsequent development of shipping methods, is documented in letters housed at the AMCMA and the March of Dimes Archives, as well as in J. Syverton, W. Scherer, and G. O. Gey, “Studies on the Propagation in Vitro of Poliomyelitis Virus,”
Journal of Experimental Medicine 97
, no. 5 (May 1, 1953).

The history of the HeLa mass production facilities at Tuskegee is documented in letters, expense reports, and other documents at the March of Dimes Archives. For a comprehensive overview, see Russell W. Brown and James H. M. Henderson, “The Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa Cells at the Tuskegee Institute, 1953–55,”
Journal of the History of Medicine
38 (1983).

A detailed history of many scientific advances that followed the growth of HeLa can be found in letters and other papers in the AMCA and TCAA. The book
Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies
, by Han nah Lan decker, provides a comprehensive overview. Many of the scientific papers referred to in this chapter are collected in
Readings in Mammalian Cell Culture
, edited by Robert Pollack, including H. Eagle, “Nutrition Needs of Mammalian Cells in Tissue Culture,”
Science
122 (1955): 501–4; T T. Puck and P. I. Marcus, “A Rapid Method for Viable Cell Titration and Clone Production with HeLa Cells in Tissue Culture: The Use of X-irradiated Cells to Study Conditioning Factors,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
41 (1955); J. H. Tjio and A. Levan, “The Chromosome Number of Man,”
Cytogenics
42 (January 26, 1956). See also M. J. Kottler, “From 48 to 46: Cytological Technique, Preconception, and the Counting of Human Chromosomes,”
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
48, no. 4 (1974); H. E. Swim, “Microbiological Aspects of Tissue Culture,”
Annual Review of Microbiology
13 (1959); J. Craigie, “Survival and Preservation of Tumors in the Frozen State,”
Advanced Cancer Research
2 (1954); W. Scherer and
A. Hoo gasian, “Preservation at Subzero Temperatures of Mouse Fibroblasts (Strain L) and Human Epithelial Cells (Strain HeLa),”
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
87, no. 2
(1954);
T. C. Hsu, “Mammalian Chromosomes in Vitro: The Karyotype of Man,”
Journal of Heredity
43 (1952); and D. Pearlman, “Value of Mammalian Cell Culture as Biochemical Tool,”
Science
160 (April 1969); and N. P. Salzman, “Animal Cell Cultures,”
Science
133, no. 3464 (May 1961).

Other useful resources for this chapter include
Human and Mammalian Cytogenetics: An Historical Perspective
, by T C. Hsu; and C. Moberg, “Keith Porter and the Founding of the Tissue Culture Association: A Fiftieth Anniversary Tribute, 1946–1996,”
In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Animal
(November 1996).

The debate about releasing Henrietta’s name to the public is documented in letters located in the AMCA. The article that identified “Henrietta Lakes” as the source of the HeLa cell line was “U Polio-detection Method to Aid in Prevention Plans,”
Minneapolis Star
, November 2, 1953. The first article to identify “Helen L.” as the source of the HeLa cell line was Bill Davidson, “Probing the Secret of Life,”
Collier’s
, May 14, 1954.

Southam’s cancer cell injections are documented in many scientific articles he authored or coauthored, including “Neoplastic Changes Developing in Epithelial Cell Lines Derived from Normal Persons,”
Science
124, no. 3212 (July 20, 1956); “Transplantation of Human Tumors,” letter,
Science
125, no. 3239 (January 25, 1957); “Homotransplantation of Human Cell Lines,”
Science
125, no. 3239 (January 25, 1957); “Applications of Immunology to Clinical Cancer Past Attempts and Future Possibilities,”
Cancer Research
21 (October 1961): 1302–16; and “History and Prospects of Immunotherapy of Cancer,”
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
277, no. 1 (1976).

For media coverage of Southam’s prison studies, see “Convicts to Get Cancer Injection,”
New York Times
, May 23, 1956; “Cancer by the Needle,”
Newsweek
, June 4, 1956; “14 Convicts Injected with Live Cancer Cells,”
New York Times
, June 15, 1956; “Cancer Volunteers,”
Time
, February 25, 1957; “Cancer Defenses Found to Differ,”
New York Times
, April 15, 1957; “Cancer Injections Cause ‘Reaction,’”
New York Times
, July 18, 1956; “Convicts Sought for Cancer Test,”
New York Times
, August 1, 1957.

The most complete resource on Southam’s cancer cell injections and the hearings that followed is
Experimentation with Human Beings
, by Jay
Katz, in which he collected extensive original correspondence, court documents, and other materials that might otherwise have been lost, as they weren’t retained by the Board of Regents. Also see Jay Katz, “Experimentation on Human Beings,”
Stanford Law Review
20 (November 1967). For Hyman’s lawsuits, see
William A. Hyman v. Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital
(42 Misc. 2d 427; 248N.YS.2d 245; 1964 and 15 N.Y.2d 317; 206 N.E.2d 338; 258 N.Y.S.2d 397; 1965). Also see patient lawsuit,
Alvin Zeleznik v. Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital
(47 A.D.2d 199; 366 N.Y.S.2d 163; 1975). Beecher’s paper is H. Beecher, “Ethics and Clinical Research,”
New England Journal of Medicine
274, no. 24 (June 16, 1966).

The news coverage of the ethical debate surrounding the Southam controversy includes “Scientific Experts Condemn Ethics of Cancer Injection,”
New York Times
, January 26, 1964; Earl Ubell, “Why the Big Fuss,”
Chronicle-Telegram
, January 25, 1961; Elinor Langer, “Human Experimentation: Cancer Studies at Sloan-Kettering Stir Public Debate on Medical Eth ics,”
Science
143 (February 7, 1964); and Elinor Langer, “Human Experimentation: New York Verdict Affirms Patient Rights,”
Science
(February 11, 1966).

Susan E. Lederer’s
Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America Before the Second World War
is a must-read on the ethics and history of research on human subjects, as is George J. Annas and Michael A. Grodin’s
The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human Rights in Human Experimentation
. Both were important sources for this chapter. For the history of experimentation on prisoners, see
Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison
, by Allen Hornblum, who interviewed Southam before he died, and kindly shared information from those interviews with me.

For further reading in the history of bioethics, including the changes that followed the Southam controversy, see Albert R. Jonsen’s
The Birth of Bioethics;
David J. Rothman’s
Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making;
George J. Annas’s
Informed Consent to Human Experimentation: The Subject’s Di lemma;
M. S. Frankel, “The Development of Policy Guidelines Governing Human Experimentation in the United States: A Case Study of Public Policy-making for Science and Technology,”
Ethics in Science and Medicine
2, no. 48 (1975); and R. B. Livingston, “Progress Report on Survey of Moral and Ethical Aspects of Clinical Investigation: Memorandum to Director, NIH” (November 4, 1964).