Henrietta Lacks Cancer Vaccine

There are 9 out of 10 people in the world that are diagnosed with cancer and don’t know that somewhere in the world there is a vaccine that could cure them? Cancer is one of the scariest diseases in the world. Every day there’re doctors and scientists who are trying to find a cure. Many researchers and doctors do different types of research through people’s DNA, but also medical history of the family. Lastly, there has been a lot of blame towards culture ,and the environment they live in or used to that affects them. People should have the right to be informed about what is happening when diagnosed with cancer. They also have the right to know what the consequences for the treatment they would receive has. Finally, they should have the right to know if they have an opportunity to receive assisted suicide if their cancer comes to the point of death.

The author included this section to inform and explain how HeLa cells were created and who they came from.The story is then taken back in time which provides us with a more specific portrait of Henrietta and her childhood life. The author also talks about the woman behind the cells her name was Henrietta Lacks and how she found out she had cancer, but in a confussive way. It was confusing because it wasn’t a normal description the lump was said it was different from typical doctors would describe.During the exam a cervical tumor is found described as the “size of a nickel” and looked like “grape jello”. Jones then took a biopsy of it and sended it into the lab. In this section it also introduces us into the Lacks family. Henrietta’s diagnosis of cervical cancer and her pain struggles throughout this section. The author writes the book through a timeline for Henrietta ,but also for herself in the book and how she meets some people of Henrietta’s family to talk about their experience of their mom. She learns about the Lacks family mistrust towards the reporters and white people that were interested in HeLa cells. After some chapters Skloot then begins to talk about the success of HeLa cells and their history of using it in different types of viruses. HeLa cells were also immortal so they contributed to science in a lot of things. Meanwhile, Henrietta was dying from her cancer, her cells in Gey’s lab keep growing nonstop. In the end Skloot ends this section talking about Henrietta’s painful death.

Death. The author included this section to explain the process of Henrietta’s death and the impact that it had towards the Lacks family. In this section it also talks about some problems that the Lacks family started to have such as Joe being brutally hit by Ethel, which Day was getting close to. Deborah being touched inappropriately also hit by Galen, Ethel’s husband. Joe killed someone when he got older which led him to jail and was still traumatized by the Ethel situation that had happened. The author also wrote this section to explain what was happening to HeLa cells and how scientists were experimenting on them such as when Dr. Sack was using HeLa cells to find a polio vaccine.there was a situation that involved African Americans as experiment lab rats or they used slaves to test drugs on. Scientists were curious as to why HeLa cells were contaminating other cells. It also lead to scientist hoping to develop Henrietta’s cells into a cell research line. Gey who was the researcher of Henrietta’s cells at John Hopkins, was trying to convince the Lacks family into approving an autopsy for him to be able to collect as many tumor samples as possible. Gey learned that he had pancreas cancer and told mary his assistant to release Henrietta’s full actual name. Later throughout the story Gey hoped he could see Henrietta’s cells grow more overtime. In the end Mary found out that Henrietta’s cells were more aggressive than they had thought. Part III:Immortality. The author included this section to explain in more detail on how scientist found out about cancer cells and how the book came to be. Scientist found out the reason why cancer cells were immortal. Problems and interviews keep happening in the Lacks family. It then talks about how Skloot was trying to get more information about Henrietta’s cells,which lead to her talking more to Deborah. Deborah and Skloot became close friends, even though they had issues along the way.

They would tell each other everything, they were both doing more research on the immortal cells. Deborah started to do more research for the conference she was going to explain everything, but throughout that process many things happened such as, her son going to prison, Lawrence’s son getting arrested and herself having health problems. Deborah stopped doing research which meant she left Skloot alone. Deborah had high blood pressure and also sugar which led to strokes and one of them was close to leading her to her death. After that ad happened she had a new perspective in life. Later on Deborah passed away but was happy on how she died peacefully because of a variety of reasons such as, her mom’s grandchildren wanted to go to school to study science and some were studying already. They were influenced by the story of HeLa cells and lastly the author probably included this section because it talks about what happened when she had finished the book and how Henrietta’s family was influenced by HeLa cells. LEUKEMIA CANCER RESEARCH The cell cycle is the cycle of a cell reproducing a new identical one by going through the phases of interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase which also involves cytokinesis. Interphase is when the cell is growing (G1 phase), makes identical DNA (S phase) and is getting ready to separate (G2 phase) it spends 90% of it’s time in this stage. The other four are in the 10% left of the cell cycle. The first phase, is Prophase which is when chromosomes become visible, the centrioles separate, the nucleolus condenses, and it breaks down the nuclear envelope.

The second phase is Metaphase which is when the chromosomes line up in the center, and spindle fibers attach to the centromeres. Spindle fibers are polar fibers that are extended from one side to the other without them the chromosomes wouldn’t be able to move. The third phase is Anaphase which is when the chromosomes move away, they are moving to the opposite sides of the cell to the poles with the help of spindles. The fourth phase is Telophase which is when the chromosomes are at the opposite ends, a new nucleus is forming on both sides two make the 2 new cells. The nuclei are starting to surround the chromosomes on both sides. After the mitosis stages of division are complete the cell goes on to cytokinesis. Cytokinesis is responsible for final separation into two cells by splitting the cytoplasm. DNA replication is important because to make more cells, they need to have the same DNA in those new cells as in the original and the same full amount. Mitosis is a type of cell division done by mostly all body cells it’s important for a cell to divide because if they didn’t we wouldn’t grow, mitosis is also important because it repairs damage and to do that we need to make more cells. The importance of the cell cycle is that throughout the cycle organisms grow, develop, replace old/damaged cells and reproduce new ones. Leukemia is a type of cancer that is found in the blood and bone marrow, it’s caused by too many white blood cells in the body. The white blood cells don’t let the body fight diseases, they also prevent it from making red blood cells and platelets which are the ones needed to be healthy. Some possible effects that leukemia has on the body are that there is easy shortness of breath, weight loss, loss of appetite, frequent infections, skin has purplish patches and spots, muscles are weakened, there is pain in bones and joints and lastly there is enlargement of liver/spleen. There are some environmental and health factors that can cause Leukemia cancer.

For example, some environmental risk factors are radiation, chemicals, smoking and chemotherapy drugs. Radiation, when someone is around high levels of radiation the risk to get Leukemia increases, such as studies that have shown that when woman get x-rays during pregnancies have a risk for her child to get childhood Leukemia later on. Chemicals, when one is exposed to benzene, which is a chemical that is use to make things like plastic, rubber dyes, detergent and drugs. Another, chemical that can increase the risk of having Leukemia is Agent Orange which is a herbicide used during Vietnam War. Smoking, can increase your chances of getting Leukemia by a high amount. A cigarette is known to contain more than 7,000 chemicals, which by the way is a lot about 69 of those are known to cancer-causing. Chemotherapy drugs, from adults to children who are treated with chemotherapy medicines such as, chlorambucil, etoposide, cyclophosphamide and teniposide. All of those types of drugs have a higher risk to develop different kinds of Leukemia, but there are also some health factors. For example, down syndrome, fanconi anemia , ataxia-telangiectasia, li-fraumeni syndrome and congenital cytomegalovirus. Down syndrome, people who have this are 20 times more likely to develop it than general population. Fanconi anemia, is a disease passed down through families and causes decrease in production of the blood cells. Ataxia- telangiectasia, is an inherited condition that affects a person’s immune system, this leds the increase risk of infection and Leukemia. Li-fraumeni, is a rare condition that is caused by the change in TP53 tumor suppressor gene. And lastly, cytomegalovirus, is a virus in the herpes family up to 80 percent of people in the United States have this, but virus is most of the time dormant and has caused some symptoms. Leukemia appears to not be an inherited disease, however someone’s risk of getting Leukemia would be greater if someone from their family has also been diagnosed with it. Some things that can be done to prevent Leukemia cancer are quit smoking, x-rays should not be given to pregnant women and children unless they are absolutely needed, don’t interact with chemicals or a large amount of radiation.

Treatment for Leukemia depends on many factors. The doctor also determines the type of treatment options depending on age and overall health, the type of Leukemia and whether it has spread to other place of the body. For example, some common treatments that are used to fight Leukemia are chemotherapy, is the major form of treatment for Leukemia. This uses chemicals to kill the cancer cells depending on the cancer it is received differently., biological therapy, this therapy is worked by using treatments that help the immune system recognize and attack the cancerous cells., targeted therapy uses drugs to attack specific vulnerabilities within the cancer cells., radiation therapy uses x-rays and high-energy beams to damage the Leukemia cells and stops their growth., stem cell transplant, is a procedure to replace someone diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow. Eating well can help someone feel better and stay strong during and after cancer treatment. Healthy lifestyles plays a key role in keeping body strong, supporting the immune system and decreasing risk some diseases, such as some cancers. A healthy diet for cancer survivors contains things such as variety of fruits and veggies, whole grains, fat free and low fat dairy, low fat proteins and healthy oils. In a healthy diet it also limits saturated fats and trans fats, some good nutrition that should be part of a healthy lifestyle includes maintaining a healthy body weight, drinking enough fluid, exercise, relaxing, getting enough sleep and not using or abusing drugs or alcohol. Many types of Leukemia show no obvious symptoms early in the disease, Leukemia may be diagnosed incidentally during physical exam or as a result of a blood testing. If a person is seen as pale, enlarged lymph nodes, swollen gums, and enlarged liver or spleen, bleeding, fever, fatigue and small pinpoint rash, the doctor most likely will suspect one has Leukemia. Finally, yes scans are used for Leukemia cancer.

Chest x-rays are done if doctor suspects lung infection, CT’s use x-rays to make detailed, cross-sectional images of body, MRI’s make images detailed of body using radio waves and strong magnets instead of x-rays, ultrasound, is used to look at lymph nodes near the surface of body or to look for enlarged organisms inside the abdomen. Yes it’s more common in a certain group of people, that ethnicity group would be Hispanics. Estimates from the US Census Bureau, showed that about 18 percent of the population of the US was Hispanic or Latino. Out of 57. 5 million Americans 21 percent of that is Hispanic deaths caused by cancer which has become leading cause of death in this ethnicity. Some new information that i learned from my research is what were the symptoms of Leukemia, the effects that were possible to have and what environmental or health factors can cause Leukemia or someone to be at risk of having Leukemia. In conclusion, what i fully learned about is what was about the cell cycle and it’s different stages through it, what Leukemia cancer was and information about that specific type of cancer.

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