Chapter 12.4, Problem 5TPSQ

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The reason for the use of cancer cells for developing cell lines.

Introduction:

A tumor occurs when the normal cell begins to start the unwanted and abnormal proliferation in the body. A tumor can cause either a benign tumor or malignant (cancerous) tumor. Cancer is characterized by mutations that disrupt the normal cell growth mechanism and produce potentially malignant cell. That can invade and spread into surrounding tissues throughout the body.

HeLa cells are a line of cells that can grow in laboratory culture and used extensively in research purposes. HeLa cells are originally derived from “malignant cervical cancer cells”, which were removed from a woman whose name was “Henrietta Lacks” in 1951. These cells were consequently grown in laboratory culture and transferred to research laboratories throughout the world, for research purposes. Just like HeLa cells, there are many other cell lines, that are taken from cancerous tissues and used for many important research experiments.