Stem Cell Clinic

Who Was Henrietta Lacks? 5 Striking Facts About The ‘Mother Of Modern Medicine’ – Huffington Post

Hardly anyone knew of Henrietta Lacks life story prior to 2010.

That year,Rebecca SklootsThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lackswas released, and went on to become a New York Times best-seller. The biographical book told the story of a black woman born on a tobacco farm in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1920 who revolutionized medical research and saved the lives of millions, without ever knowing it. Now, a new film by the same name starring Oprah Winfrey aims to make her life and impact more widely known.

Who exactly was Henrietta Lacks? And why is she described as the Mother of Medicine? Here are five fascinating facts about Lacks to better understand who she was and how she changed the world forever.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

In 1951, at the age of 31,Lacks visited Baltimores Johns Hopkins Hospital, which served black patients in segregated wards during the Jim Crow era, so doctors could find out what was causing pain in her lower stomach. It turned out there was a cancerous tumor that had grown at a terrifying rate on her cervix.

At the time, cervical cancer was prevalent among women and research samples were taken from those who were diagnosed with it. Richard Telinde, a doctor at Hopkins who led a research study on patients who tested positive, hoped to grow living samples from both normal and infected cells to better understand the cancer. He worked with his colleague Dr. George Gey, the head of tissue culture research at Hopkins, who was relentlessly determined to develop the first line of immortal human cells those that could repeatedly replicate themselves outside of the body without ever dying.

Soon after her first trip to the hospital, the excruciating pain Lacks felt began to worsen as her tumor grew, so she checked herself into Hopkins for immediate treatment through surgery. The doctor who performed the surgery then removed two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Lacks body one from the infected cervix, the other from a healthy part of the organ and had them handed off to Gey. He and his staff used Lacks samples to successfully grow the first line of immortal cells. Lacks eventually died from the cancer, leaving five young children.

However, her cells lived on and soon came to be known as HeLa.

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot writes that while Lacks gave doctors permission to perform a surgical procedure on her, she knew nothing about her cells growing in a laboratory. The hospital had called Lacks husband, David, to tell him about her death and ask if they could do an autopsy on her. Her husband initially denied the request, but visited the hospital later that day to see Lacks body and eventually agreed to sign off on the autopsy because doctors said they wanted to conduct tests that may help their children, and he believed them.

Decades after Lacks death, Rolling Stone published a riveting piece in March 1976that gave a detailed account of what happened to her cells and included comments from her husband. In the piece, he recounted his experience at the hospital after learning of her death and revealed that he had never explicitly been told by doctors or any official about what the samples had been used for:

They said it wouldnt disfigure her none, because it was all down in her womb, to begin with. He nods. They said it was the fastest growing cancer theyd ever known, and they was suppose to tell me about it, to let me know, but I never did hear.

In the same interview, Lacks eldest son,Lawrence, told the reporter: First we heard was about a month ago, a person called us on the phone and asked if wed like to take a blood test. Thats the first time we heard about it.

Helen Lane had quickly become a pseudonym for Henrietta Lacks in print, which Skloot writeswas apparently an intentional move made in an effort to disguise Lacks true identity from the public and the media. According to Skloot, one of Geys colleagues told her Gey himself had created the new name so the media wouldnt discover who Lacks really was. The Minneapolis Star was the first to publish a report on Nov. 2, 1953, that more accurately identified Lacks, only the last name was incorrect: She was recognized as Henrietta Lakes.

Upon the release of the story, journalists dug in and began requesting interviews with Gey and other doctors central to the case, but they all were reluctant to release her real name at the risk of getting into trouble, according to the book.Skloot firmly concludes that had Lacks name been released to the public from the outset, it would have changed her familys life forever.

They would have learned that Henriettas cells were still alive, that theyd been taken, bought, sold and used in research without her knowledge or theirs, she wrote.

HeLa cells have entirely revolutionized medical research. The cell line can be found in labs across the world and has been used in studies that have resulted in countless breakthroughs.

The cells were used to develop the first polio vaccine in 1952 during a time when the disease swept the nation in an outbreakthat left thousands of children paralyzed.

HeLa cells have also traveled to space to help scientists study the impact zero gravity has on human cells; been used to identify abnormalities in chromosomes; helped with research in the mapping of the human genome; and aided in studying the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV, which causes the cervical cancer that killed Lacks.

In 2014, chemists and engineers at Penn State University announced that in their study, HeLa cells had been implanted with technology that have potential to cure cancer if they are able to mechanically manipulate cells inside the body.

Both of Lacks daughters have died, including Deborah, who was hugely instrumental in bringing the book to life by working with Skloot and whom Oprah portrays in the film. But her legacy lives on through her three sons, who are now decades old.

And its Lacks eldest son, Lawrence, reportedly the executor of her estate, who is leading the charge for the family to receive compensation from Johns Hopkins Hospital and others. However, in a statement obtained by The Washington Post in February, the institute said it does not own the rights for the HeLa cell line and that they have not profited from the cells.Lawrence plans on continuing to pursue his mission.

Before Deborahs death in 2009, she told Skloot that even though she and her siblings lost their mother, Lacks always knew how to make her presence known.

Deborah believed Henriettas spirit lived on in her cells, controlling the life of anyone who crossed its path, Skloot wrote.Including me.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks premieres on HBO on Saturday, April 22.

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Who Was Henrietta Lacks? 5 Striking Facts About The 'Mother Of Modern Medicine' - Huffington Post

Genetic control of immune cell proliferation – Science Daily

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Genetic control of immune cell proliferation Science Daily Germinal centers are transient structures in the lymph nodes where antibody-producing B cells proliferate and differentiate at extraordinary rates. Germinal centers can be visually divided into a dark zone and light zone. For the proliferation and ... and more »

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Genetic control of immune cell proliferation - Science Daily

Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez dead after hanging self in cell – Medicine Hat News

By The Associated Press on April 19, 2017.

MILFORD, Mass. Massachusetts prison officials say former NFL star Aaron Hernandez has hanged himself in his cell and has been pronounced dead at a hospital. He was 27.

An official with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections says Hernandez was found hanged in his cell just after 3 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities tried to revive the former New England Patriots tight end, and he was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster at 4:07 a.m.

Prison officials say the Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population housing unit at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts They say he hanged himself using a bed sheet that he attached to a cell window.

Authorities say Hernandez tried to block the cell door from the inside by jamming the door with various items.

Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder, was acquitted Friday in a 2012 double slaying prosecutors said was fueled by his anger over a drink spilled at a nightclub.

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Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez dead after hanging self in cell - Medicine Hat News

CAR-T Cell Therapy Receives FDA Breakthrough Designation – Pharmaceutical Processing

Novartis CAR-T cell therapy CTL019 receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for treatment of adult patients with r/r DLBCL.

Novartis announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to CTL019, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and refractory (r/r) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), who have failed two or more prior therapies.

This is the second indication for which CTL019 has received this designation; the first being for the treatment of r/r B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in pediatric and young adult patients.

"At Novartis, we are eager to unlock the full potential of CTL019, including the potential to help patients with r/r DLBCL," said Vas Narasimhan, Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "We look forward to working closely with the FDA to help bring this potential new treatment option to patients as soon as possible."

CAR-T cell therapy is different from typical small molecule or biologic therapies currently on the market because it is manufactured for each individual patient. During the treatment process, T cells are drawn from a patient's blood and reprogrammed in the laboratory to create T cells that are genetically coded to hunt the patient's cancer cells and other B-cells expressing a particular antigen.

CTL019 was first developed by the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). In 2012, Novartis and Penn entered into a global collaboration to further research, develop and then commercialize CAR-T cell therapies, including CTL019, for the investigational treatment of cancers. Through the collaboration, Novartis holds the worldwide rights to CARs developed with Penn for all cancer indications.

In March 2017, Novartis announced that the FDA accepted the company's Biologics License Application filing and granted priority review for CTL019 in the treatment of r/r pediatric and young adult patients with B-cell ALL.

The Breakthrough Therapy designation is based on data from the multi-center phase II JULIET study (NCT02445248), which is evaluating the efficacy and safety of CTL019 in adult patients with r/r DLBCL. JULIET is the second global CAR-T trial, following the Novartis ELIANA study (NCT02435849) investigating CTL019 in r/r B-cell ALL. Findings from JULIET are expected to be presented at an upcoming medical congress.

"We are encouraged by the FDA's recognition in the potential of CTL019 for this indication, which follows our promising studies of this therapy for ALL and the FDA filing by Novartis in pediatric and young adult ALL that received priority review," said the Penn team's leader, Carl June, M.D., director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Work with our collaborators at trial sites across the world is paving a path to bring personalized cell therapies to more patients with these devastating blood cancers."

According to FDA guidelines, treatments that receive Breakthrough Therapy designation are those that treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and demonstrate a substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints based on preliminary clinical evidence. The designation also indicates that the agency will expedite the development and review of CTL019 in adults with r/r DLBCL.

This marks the 14thBreakthrough Therapy designation for Novartis since the FDA initiated the program in 2013, underscoring an emphasis to develop innovative treatments in disease areas with significant unmet need.

DLBCL is the most common form of lymphoma and accounts for approximately 30 percent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases1. Ten to 15 percent of DLBCL patients fail to respond to initial therapy or relapse within three months of treatment, and an additional 20 to 25 percent relapse after initial response to therapy2.

Because CTL019 is an investigational therapy, the safety and efficacy profile has not yet been established. Access to investigational therapies is available only through carefully controlled and monitored clinical trials. These trials are designed to better understand the potential benefits and risks of the therapy. Because of the uncertainty of clinical trials, there is no guarantee that CTL019 will ever be commercially available anywhere in the world. ____________________________________________________

References:

1 American Society of Clinical Oncology. Lymphoma - Non-Hodgkin: Subtypes (Dec. 2016 revision).http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/lymphoma-non-hodgkin/subtypes. Accessed March 2017.

2 Sehn, L. Paramount prognostic factors that guide therapeutic strategies in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Hematology, December 2012; 1; 402-409.

(Source: GlobeNewswire)

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CAR-T Cell Therapy Receives FDA Breakthrough Designation - Pharmaceutical Processing

UW Treats First Participant in Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy for Heart Failure – University of Wisconsin-Madison

A research team at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has treated its first patient in an innovative clinical trial using stem cells for the treatment of heart failure that develops after a heart attack.

The trial is taking place at University Hospital, one of three sites nationwide currently enrolling participants. The investigational CardiAMP therapy is designed to deliver a high dose of a patients own bone-marrow cells directly to the point of cardiac injury to potentially stimulate the bodys natural healing response.

The patient experience with the trial begins with a cell-potency screening test. Patients who qualify for therapy are scheduled for a bone-marrow aspiration. The bone marrow is then processed on-site and subsequently delivered directly to the damaged regions in a patients heart in a minimally invasive procedure.

Patients living with heart failure experience a variety of negative symptoms that can greatly impact their day-to-day life, said UW Health cardiologist Dr. Amish Raval, associate professor of medicine and one of the principal investigators for the trial. By being at the forefront of research for this debilitating condition, we look forward to studying the potential of this cell therapy to impact a patients exercise capacity and quality of life.

The primary outcome to be measured is the change in distance during a six-minute walk 12 months after the initial baseline measurement.

Heart failure commonly occurs after a heart attack, when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen. About 790,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year. The number of adults living with heart failure increased from about 5.7 million (2009-2012) to about 6.5 million (2011-2014), and the number of adults diagnosed with heart failure is expected to dramatically rise by 46 percent by the year 2030, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

The CardiAMP Heart Failure Trial is a phase III study of up to 260 patients at up to 40 centers nationwide. Phase III trials are conducted to measure effectiveness of the intervention, monitor side effects and gather information for future use of the procedure. Study subjects must be diagnosed with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II or III heart failure as a result of a previous heart attack.

Information about eligibility or enrollment in the trial is available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, or through a cardiologist.

The trial is funded by Biocardia, Inc., which developed the potential therapy.

Date Published: 04/17/2017

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UW Treats First Participant in Trial of Stem-Cell Therapy for Heart Failure - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Husaini trust plans to perform bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy – The News International

The Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust will soon provide facilities of bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies at its newly established Blood Transfusion Centre and Thalassaemia Centre that was inaugurated by the city director health on Tuesday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Karachi director health Dr Muhammad Toufique urged the trust officials to share the data of patients undergoing blood transfusions, stem cell therapies and bone marrow transplant.

He said the data would help the Sindh government formulate a plan to establish more such facilities in the future. In addition to the blood screening and storage facilities, the centre is providing blood transfusion service to children suffering from genetic blood disorders as well as diagnostic services related to blood disorders.

This is a state-of-the-art blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre where bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapies would be started very soon, said a renowned haematologist associated with the Husaini Blood Bank, Dr Sarfraz Jaffery, at the inaugural ceremony of the blood transfusion and thalassaemia centre located at Qalandaria Chowk, North Nazimabad.

The head office of the Husaini Haematology and Oncology Trust is equipped with a diagnostic lab, blood bank having storage capacity of around 3,000 blood bags and blood transfusion centre for thalassaemic patients while its management is also planning to introduce bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapy services at the same facility in the near future.

Felicitating the trust officials, the city director health vowed to support them in their services. He said the government was also striving hard for provision of safe blood to thalassaemic children and other patients.

Dr Toufique hoped that institutions like Hussaini would come forward to support the government in establishing such centres in the province. Talking to journalists, the director health said steps were being taken to control the outbreak of Chikungunya in the city.

He said the health department was in contact with the municipal authorities to start fumigation in various areas of Karachi to eliminate the mosquitoes and prevent people from mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue and Malaria.

The Sindh government was planning to merge the Malaria and Dengue Prevention and Control Cells under one project director, who would be utilizing all the resources to eliminate the mosquitoes that were responsible for the deadly infectious diseases in the province, he added.

I would also urge people to take precautionary measures, prevent themselves and their children from mosquitoes by using repellents, improving sanitation conditions in their residential areas and adopt other preventive measures to protect themselves against the mosquitoes, he advised.

Earlier, speaking at a workshop on thalassaemia management held at the same place, noted haematologists of the country stressed the need for promoting the culture of prevention from diseases in the country.

They called for the implementation of laws regarding thalassaemia screening, saying that both the government and private sector could not treat the increasing number of thalassaemic patients.

Senior haematologist from Lahore, Prof Dr Jovaria Mannan, urged the doctors and researchers to use latest research methods in the field of haematology.

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Husaini trust plans to perform bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy - The News International

Protein primes mouse stem cells to quickly repair injury, study finds – Science Daily

Protein primes mouse stem cells to quickly repair injury, study finds Science Daily Like drag car racers revving their engines at the starting line, stem cells respond more quickly to injury when they've been previously primed with one dose of a single protein, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Mice ... and more »

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Protein primes mouse stem cells to quickly repair injury, study finds - Science Daily