Cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks have been studied by generations of researchers (Image: Obstetrics and Gynaecology/SPL)

One of the world’s most prestigious laboratories is frantically trying to resolve a row over its decision to publish the genome of one of the world’s most studied human cell lines – a set of cervical cancer cells.

The cells were taken in 1951 from a woman called Henrietta Lacks, without her consent. Her descendants argue that the published genome may reveal genetic traits of family members.

The HeLa cells, as they are dubbed, are exceptionally easy to grow in the lab and have become the cellular equivalent of lab rats. For decades, scientists have worked with these cells to unravel the secrets of cancer and develop new vaccines and treatments.


After publishing the HeLa genome in the online journal G3: Genes, Genomes and Genetics, researchers led by Lars Steinmetz at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, withdrew the data following a barrage of objections.

“It shouldn’t have been published without our consent… That is private family information,” said Lacks’ granddaughter Jeri Lacks-Whye, quoted in The New York Times in a commentary on the dispute by Rebecca Skloot, whose biography of Lacks, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, appeared in 2011.

EMBL has apologised to the family and is in talks with them to try to resolve the situation.

“As soon as we learned of this we removed our data from the internet out of respect for the family,” says EMBL spokeswoman Raeka Aiyar. “We take their concerns very seriously and have reached out to them with our apologies, and to express our determination to work with them towards an appropriate course of action for handling the availability of this data. We are currently awaiting their response.”

EMBL also gave the G3 journal a statement on why the researchers withdrew the data.

Chaotic genes

The paper revealed that the genome of HeLa cells is chaotic. That is as might be expected in cancer cells, which undergo abnormal genetic reorganisation.

Steinmetz found numerous regions where chromosomes are arranged in the wrong order, for example, as well as missing genes and surplus copies of others.

The aim of the paper was to show the degree to which the genomes of HeLa cells diverged from those of healthy cells, so researchers could take that into account when designing experiments and analysing results from studies using the HeLa cell line. Having the genome would also allow researchers to check whether new cell lines have been contaminated by HeLa cells, a widespread and under-reported problem.

EMBL acknowledges that the genome of the cancer cells could be used to make predictions about Henrietta Lacks’s genome and those of her descendants. But it cautions that there will be significant differences between the genomes of the cancer tissue and Henrietta’s healthy cells, therefore limiting what can be deciphered about her and her descendants.