The Hela cell line was initiated in the early 1950s from cervical adenocarcinoma tissue that was excised from a 31-year-old female cancer patient. One of the most well-known cell lines in the world, HeLa cells were the first human cells to be successfully immortalized. As such, the cells represented a tremendous scientific breakthrough and opened an array of new research possibilities. One of the first great achievements that the HeLa cell line was involved in was the development of the polio vaccine. Since that time the cells have been employed in such wide-ranging studies as the search for a cure for leukemia and investigations into the cellular effects of radiation.

HeLa cells are virulent and grow rapidly, reproducing an entire generation about once every 24 hours. In the 1970s, it was discovered that HeLa cells had invaded many other cell lines, invalidating millions of dollars of research carried out on a different type of cell than previously thought. Testing has revealed human papilloma virus 18 (HPV-18) sequences contained in HeLa cells, which express low levels of the tumor suppressor protein p53. Levels of pRB, a retinoblastoma supressor protein, have been found to be normal. Cellular products of HeLa cells include keratin and lysophosphatidylcholine.

The human cervical adenocarcinoma cells (HeLa) appearing in the digital image above were resident in a culture immunofluorescently labeled with rabbit anti-giantin primary antibodies (targeting the Golgi complex) followed by goat anti-rabbit secondary antibody fragments conjugated to Alexa Fluor 568. In addition, cell nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst 33358 and nucleoli were targeted with mouse anti-fibrillarin antibodies visualized with a secondary antibody conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to a Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.