Movie Review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,JAMA

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Movie Review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
JAMA ( IF 63.1 ) Pub Date : 2017-12-26 , DOI: 10.1001/jama.2017.17916
Mary L. (Nora) Disis _{1,

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Affiliation

T he Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the book by author Rebecca Skloot that spent 75 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, tells the story of a young African American woman who died of cervical cancer at age 31 years, leaving behind a husband and 5 young children. Just prior to her death and without consent, researchers at Johns Hopkins University sampled her tissue and initiated the first immortalized cell line from her cancer, an amazing feat in 1951 as human cells had never before been successfully cultured. The HeLa cervical cancer cell line has been a workhorse in scientific research ever since. But for Henrietta’s children, the fact that their mother’s cells are immortal—alive and well and reproducing endlessly in laboratories around the world—while their mother died when she and they were far too young, is a painful and confusing legacy that touches every aspect of their lives. HBO recently debuted the film version of the book. With Oprah Winfrey as executive producer and starring as Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, the film tells the story of that legacy and of Rebecca Skloot’s evolving relationship with the Lacks family as she struggled to understand and tell the story of Henrietta and her cells. The movie opens with words on the screen: “For decades, scientists had been collecting tissue samples from patients without consent, searching for cells that could live outside the body. In 1951, a woman entered a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and everything changed.” This introduction frames a central theme of the movie—the exploitation of Henrietta and her family by the medical establishment, with questions of race never far from the surface—and begins a rapid-image opening credit sequence that sets up the fraught story for viewers (with Branford Marsalis–composed jazz solos riffing in the background, signaling just how freestyle and undisciplined the developments were). Henrietta’s tumor is removed while she is under general anesthesia. Dr George Gey, director of Hopkins’ FinneyHowell Cancer Research Laboratory, exults with his all-white staff upon first seeing the cells self-replicate in culture. The cell lines are shipped to laboratories around the world, initially for free. They are used by Jonas Salk to develop the polio vaccine, with the help of an all-black team of scientists at the Tuskegee Institute. “Who owns the patent on this vaccine?” an interviewer asks Salk. “The people, I would say,” he replies. “There is no patent. Would you patent the sun?” A reporter asks Dr Gey, “Did you know the donor?” “No,” he admits, but claims to have told Henrietta as she was dying and unconscious, “Your cells are going to help a lot of people and make you immortal.” Gey is advised by a council of allwhite attorneys and counselors to keep Henrietta’s identity anonymous, so the founder cells are relabeled: HENRIETTA LACKS, DOB 8/1/20, F/COLORED. When the cell line is commercialized by Microbiological Associates in 1954, a biomedical revolution begins, accelerating advances in understanding and treatment of tuberculosis, cancer, herpes, influenza,

中文翻译：

亨丽埃塔·拉克斯的不朽人生影评

曾登上纽约时报畅销书榜 75 周的作家丽贝卡·斯克鲁特 (Rebecca Skloot) 的《亨利埃塔·拉克斯 (Rebecca Skloot) 的不朽生命》讲述了一位年轻的非洲裔美国妇女在 31 岁时死于宫颈癌，留下了一个丈夫和 5 个年幼的孩子。就在她去世之前，未经同意，约翰霍普金斯大学的研究人员对她的组织进行了采样，并从她的癌症中启动了第一个永生化细胞系，这是 1951 年的一项惊人壮举，因为此前从未成功培养过人类细胞。从那时起，HeLa 宫颈癌细胞系一直是科学研究的主力军。但是对于亨丽埃塔的孩子来说，他们母亲的细胞是不朽的——活得很好，并且在世界各地的实验室中无休止地繁殖——而他们的母亲在她和他们还太年轻的时候就去世了，是一种痛苦和令人困惑的遗产，涉及到他们生活的方方面面。HBO最近推出了这本书的电影版。这部电影由奥普拉·温弗瑞担任执行制片人，并由亨丽埃塔的女儿黛博拉主演，讲述了这一遗产的故事以及丽贝卡·斯克鲁特与拉克斯家族不断发展的关系，因为她努力理解和讲述亨丽埃塔和她的细胞的故事。电影以屏幕上的文字开场：“几十年来，科学家们一直在未经同意的情况下从患者身上收集组织样本，寻找可以在体外生存的细胞。1951 年，一名妇女进入马里兰州巴尔的摩的一家医院，一切都变了。” 这段介绍构成了电影的中心主题——医疗机构对 Henrietta 及其家人的剥削，种族问题永远不会浮出水面 - 并开始了一个快速图像开场信用序列，为观众设置了令人担忧的故事（布兰福德·马萨利斯（Branford Marsalis）在背景中演奏爵士乐独奏，表明发展是多么自由和无纪律） . Henrietta 的肿瘤在全身麻醉下被切除。霍普金斯大学芬尼豪威尔癌症研究实验室主任 George Gey 博士在第一次看到细胞在培养中自我复制时，与他的全白工作人员一起欣喜若狂。细胞系被运送到世界各地的实验室，最初是免费的。在塔斯基吉研究所的全黑科学家团队的帮助下，乔纳斯·索尔克 (Jonas Salk) 使用它们来开发脊髓灰质炎疫苗。“谁拥有这种疫苗的专利？” 一位面试官问索尔克。“人们，我会说，”他回答道。“没有专利。你会为太阳申请专利吗？” 一位记者问盖伊博士，“你认识捐赠者吗？” “不，”他承认，但声称在亨利埃塔垂死和失去知觉时告诉过她，“你的细胞会帮助很多人，让你长生不老。” 一个由全白人律师和顾问组成的委员会建议盖伊保持亨利埃塔的匿名身份，因此创始人细胞被重新标记：亨丽埃塔缺乏，DOB 8/1/20，F/COLORED。1954 年 Microbiological Associates 将该细胞系商业化后，一场生物医学革命开始了，加速了对结核病、癌症、疱疹、流感、” 一个由全白人律师和顾问组成的委员会建议盖伊保持 Henrietta 的匿名身份，因此创始人细胞被重新标记：HENRIETTA LACKS，DOB 8/1/20，F/COLORED。1954 年 Microbiological Associates 将该细胞系商业化后，一场生物医学革命开始了，加速了对结核病、癌症、疱疹、流感、” 一个由全白人律师和顾问组成的委员会建议盖伊保持 Henrietta 的匿名身份，因此创始人细胞被重新标记：HENRIETTA LACKS，DOB 8/1/20，F/COLORED。当该细胞系于 1954 年由 Microbiological Associates 商业化时，一场生物医学革命开始了，加速了对结核病、癌症、疱疹、流感、

更新日期：2017-12-26

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