HeLa is not a Cervical Carcinoma but a Human Breast Cancer Cell Line |Biomedgrid

Human cancer cell lines, such as the HeLa line established in culture by George Otto Gey and associates [1], are of paramount importance in biomedical research. HeLa is the first human cancer cell line ever established in culture from the so-called cervical biopsy obtained from a 31-year-old African American woman named, Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta died within eight months of her widespread cancer diagnosis. From the very beginning, the pathology of HeLa was in doubt. Howard W. Jones, Jr, the original gynecologist who examined Henrietta first, wrote a reappraisal 20 years later on the origin of HeLa and said, “On palpation, the lesion was so soft that it was scarcely recognizable to the examining finger. The remainder of the pelvic examination was unrevealing. The examiner, who considered himself not without experience in the appearance of cervical cancer, was quite concerned that the unusual appearance of this lesion was not consistent with the diagnosis of cancer. At a loss for a proper diagnosis, the possibility of a primary cancer of the cervix was considered, although neither before nor since has the examiner ever seen one.”