system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Were Henrietta Lack's cells special?

I was wondering if Henrietta's cells were special to begin with, or if the same result, that is making the immortal cells so important in research, could have been achieved by using canceorus cells from any other person?
gpt
This is a great question! By today's standards, there is nothing inherently special about HeLa cells. Not only do we have countless "immortal" cell lines from other people, we have very well established protocols for immortalizing cell lines ourselves.

However, at the time Henrietta Lacks' cells were isolated, this was definitely not the case. These were the first human cells which were found to be able to divide indefinitely. Prior to this, cells would last only a few divisions before either dying or changing dramatically. The use of HeLa cells allowed for: 1.) More convenient cell culturing; and 2.) More importantly, it allowed the scientific field to "normalize" their *in vitro* research in a profound way.

All that said, HeLa cells were special because they were the *first* of their kind isolated, not because they were inherently special. In theory, cells of equivalent value could have been isolated from any cancer patient.