The immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks - Robin Bulleri

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Klavdija Cernilogar

Imagine something small enough to float on a particle of dust

Predstavljaj si nekaj tako majhnega, da lahko lebdi na delcu prahu,

that holds the keys to understanding cancer, virology, and genetics.

ki ima v sebi ključ za razumevanje raka, virologije in genetike.

Luckily for us,

Na našo srečo

to obstaja v obliki bilijonov in bilijonov

such a thing exists in the form of trillions upon trillions

of human lab-grown cells called HeLa.

človeških, v laboratoriju vzgojenih celic, imenovanih HeLa.

Let's take a step back for a second.

Stopimo korak nazaj za trenutek.

Scientists grow human cells in the lab to study how they function,

Znanstveniki gojijo človeške celice, da bi preučili, kako delujejo,

understand how diseases develop,

razumeli, kako se razvijajo bolezni,

and test new treatments without endangering patients.

in testirali nova zdravila, ne da bi ogrožali paciente.

To make sure that they can repeat these experiments over and over,

Da lahko te poskuse ponavljajo znova in znova

and compare the results with other scientists,

in primerjajo rezultate z drugimi znanstveniki,

they need huge populations of identical cells

potrebujejo ogromne populacije identičnih celic,

that can duplicate themselves faithfully for years,

ki se lahko več let same razmnožujejo,

but until 1951, all human cell lines that researchers tried to grow

a do leta 1951 so vse človeške celice, ki so jih znanstveniki poskušali vzgojiti,

had died after a few days.

umrle po nekaj dneh.

Then a John Hopkins scientist named George Gey

Nato je raziskovalec George Gey z Univerze John Hopkins

received a sample of a strange looking tumor:

prejel vzorec čudnega tumorja:

dark purple, shiny, jelly-like.

temno vijoličen, svetleč, kot žele.

This sample was special.

Ta vzorec je bil poseben.

Some of its cells just kept dividing,

Nekatere njegove celice so se kar delile

and dividing,

in delile

in delile.

and dividing.

When individual cells died,

Ko so individualne celice umrle,

generations of copies took their place and thrived.

so generacije kopij prevzele njihovo mesto in živele naprej.

The result was an endless source of identical cells that's still around today.

Rezultat je bil neskončen vir identičnih celic, ki so še danes tu.

The very first immortal human cell line.

Prva nesmrtna celična linija.

Gey labeled it "HeLa" after the patient with the unusual tumor, Henrietta Lacks.

Gey jo je označil kot "HeLa", po pacientki z nenavadnim tumorjem, Henrietti Lacks.

Born on a tobacco farm in Virginia,

Rojena na plantaži tobaka v Virginiji,

she lived in Baltimore with her husband and five children.

je živela v Baltimoru z možem in petimi otroki.

She died of aggressive cervical cancer

Umrla je zaradi agresivnega raka materničnega vratu,

a few months after her tumorous cells were harvested,

nekaj mesecev po tem, ko so pobrali njene rakave celice

and she never knew about them.

in za katere ni vedela.

So what's so special about the cells from Henrietta Lacks

Zakaj so celice Henriette Lacks tako posebne,

that lets them survive when other cell lines die?

da lahko preživijo, ko druge celične linije umrejo?

The short answer is we don't entirely know.

Kratek odgovor je, da še ne vemo natančno.

Normal human cells have built-in control mechanisms.

Normalne človeške celice imajo vgrajene nadzorne mehanizme.

They can divide about 50 times before they self destruct

Lahko se delijo približno 50-krat, preden se samouničijo

in a process called apoptosis.

v procesu, ki se imenuje apoptoza.

This prevents the propagation of genetic errors

To prepreči množenje genetskih napak,

that creep in after repeated rounds of division.

ki se pojavijo po ponavljajočih se delitvah.

But cancer cells ignore these signals, dividing indefinitely

A rakave celice ignorirajo te signale; lahko se delijo za nedoločen čas

and crowding out normal cells.

in izrinejo normalne celice.

Still, most cell lines eventually die off, especially outside the human body.

Še vedno večina celičnih linij umre, še posebej zunaj človeškega telesa.

Not HeLa, though, and that's the part we can't yet explain.

HeLa pa ne in to je del, ki ga še ne znamo razložiti.

Regardless, when Dr. Gey realized he had the first immortal line of human cells,

Vseeno, ko je dr. Gey ugotovil, da ima prvo nesmrtno linijo človeških celic,

he sent samples to labs all over the world.

je poslal vzorce v laboratorije po vsem svetu.

Soon the world's first cell production facility

Kmalu je prva proizvodnja celic na svetu

was churning out 6 trillion HeLa cells a week,

proizvajala 6 bilijonov celic HeLa na teden

and scientists put them to work in an ethically problematic way,

in znanstveniki so jih uporabljali na etično problematičen način,

building careers and fortunes off of Henrietta's cells

gradili kariere in bogastva s Henriettinimi celicami,

without her or her family's consent, or even knowledge until decades later.

brez privolitve nje ali njene družine, ki je o tem izvedela šele čez desetletja.

The polio epidemic was at its peak in the early 50s.

Epidemija otroške paralize je bila na vrhuncu v zgodnjih 50. letih.

HeLa cells, which easily took up and replicated the virus,

HeLa celice, ki so zlahka prevzele in pomnožile virus,

allowed Jonas Salk to test his vaccine.

so Jonasu Salku omogočile testirati cepivo.

They've been used to study diseases,

Uporabili so jih za študij bolezni,

including measles,

vključno z ošpicami,

mumps,

mumpsom,

HIV,

HIV-om

and ebola.

in ebolo.

We know that human cells have 46 chromosomes

Vemo, da imajo človeške celice 46 kromosomov,

because a scientist working with HeLa discovered a chemcial

ker so znanstveniki, ki so delali s HeLa celicami, odkrili kemikalijo,

that makes chromosomes visible.

ki naredi kromosome vidne.

HeLa cells themselves actually have around 80 highly mutated chromosomes.

HeLa celice same imajo pravzaprav okrog 80 močno mutiranih kromosomov.

HeLa cells were the first to be cloned.

HeLa celice so bile klonirane prve.

They've traveled to outer space.

Potovale so v vesolje.

Telomerase,

Telomeraza,

an enzyme that helps cancer cells evade destruction by repairing their DNA,

encim, ki pomaga rakavim celicam, da se izognejo uničenju s popravilom DNK,

was discovered first in HeLa cells.

je bil prvič odkrit v celicah HeLa.

In an interesting turn of fate,

Po čudnem obratu usode,

thanks to HeLa, we know that cervical cancer can be caused by a virus called HPV

zahvaljujoč HeLa celicam, vemo, da rak materničnega vratu povzroča virus HPV

and now there's a vaccine.

in sedaj obstaja cepivo.

HeLa-fueled discoveries have filled thousands of scientific papers,

Odkritja, ki jih poganjajo celice HeLa, so napolnila tisoče znanstvenih del

and that number is probably even higher than anyone knows.

in ta številka je najbrž še višja, kot si sploh kdo predstavlja.

HeLa cells are so resilient that they can travel on almost any surface:

HeLa celice so tako odporne, da lahko potujejo na skoraj katerikoli površini:

a lab worker's hand,

roki laboratorijskega delavca,

a piece of dust,

koščku prahu,

invading cultures of other cells and taking over like weeds,

lahko vdrejo v kulture drugih celic in jih prerastejo kot plevel,

countless cures, patents and discoveries all made thanks to Henrieta Lacks.

nešteta zdravila, patenti in odkritja, vsa narejena po zaslugi Henriette Lacks.