Since ancient times, human beings have been very interested in immortality. Some people have tried various methods to prolong life, but none of them have succeeded. Yet 70 years ago, a group of cells achieved immortality. These immortal cells have saved many lives, and even the fight against the new coronavirus has its credit.
People are dead, cells are alive
In 1951, a 31-year-old American woman named Henrietta Lacks died of terminal cancer after a period of treatment in the hospital. During her treatment, doctors noticed that her tumor had an abnormal appearance, and during her treatment, doctors removed a portion of her cancerous tissue and brought it back to the lab for study.
Generally speaking, cancer cells are cunning "two-faced people", they act recklessly in the human body, but as soon as they leave the human body, they will die quickly, giving humans no chance to study them. However, what the doctor did not expect was that Henrietta's cancer cells showed signs of division on the second day of culture. This is the first human cell line that can proliferate in the laboratory. The doctor called it "HeLa cells". ".
Break the limits of division
HeLa cells divide at an alarmingly fast rate, and even doctors say they have never seen such a viable cell. Normal human cells can only divide 50 to 60 times before aging and dying, and only once every 2.4 years, so the theoretical maximum lifespan of human beings is 120 years. The HeLa cells divide once a day and continue to multiply to this day, with no signs of stopping. Some people have estimated that so far, HeLa cells have divided and reproduced for 25,000 generations, and the total weight has exceeded 50 million tons, equivalent to the weight of 500 100-meter-high buildings. It was also the first immortal cell obtained by humans.
Unique immortal cells
To fight disease, scientists try to grow human cells in the lab for experiments. To ensure that they can repeat experiments and compare their research results with others, they need a large number of cells of a single type that can be reproduced year-round.
Before the advent of HeLa cells, all human cells grown outside the body died within a few days. HeLa cells are different from normal human cells. They are cancerous cells with genetic abnormalities and other problems inside, which cause them to divide indefinitely; and compared with other cancerous cells, their growth rate is abnormally fast, which makes them Ideal for large-scale testing.
Participate in saving lives for the first time
The "first battle" of HeLa cells occurred in the winter of the year Henrietta died. When the polio epidemic broke out in the United States, scientists proposed to develop a vaccine. But how to test the effectiveness of vaccines? The virus that causes polio can only infect humans or monkeys, and testing vaccines in monkeys is expensive and kills many monkeys. Scientists found that HeLa cells can be infected by the virus without being killed, so they put the vaccinate's serum, virus and HeLa cells together. If the serum contains antibodies that can inactivate the virus, the virus will not be able to Infecting HeLa cells proves that the vaccine is effective.
In the end, the vaccine was successfully launched, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
Swept the global laboratory
Now HeLa cells have been brought to laboratories around the world for various scientific studies such as nuclear radiation damage to organisms, tuberculosis, genetic diseases, and vaccines. Its indirect impact is unbelievable: the cell culture technology used in the development of the new coronary pneumonia vaccine today began with the cultivation of HeLa cells; the now very mature cold chain transportation is also based on the mailing of HeLa cells back then In fact, there are not only HeLa
cells that can immortalize cells, but it was discovered first and has the most extensive applications. Laboratories around the world have used its descendants to accumulate a large amount of experimental data. Based on HeLa cells The results of the research on the above are easier to find and validate, making it one of the most commonly used experimental cells.
At this second, HeLa cells are still dividing and growing, and will continue to benefit mankind.
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