10/06/2026
Researchers in Wuhan, China—specifically at institutions like the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)—used HeLa cells ( Henrietta Lacks ) cells as a standard laboratory model to study how viruses infect human cells.
Because HeLa cells are the oldest, most robust, and most widely used "immortal" human cell line in global biomedical science, labs worldwide use them for routine virology research. In the context of Wuhan-based research, they were utilized for several specific scientific purposes:
1. Testing Cross-Species Transmission (Zoonotic Spillover)
A primary focus of the research in Wuhan was determining whether coronaviruses found in wild bats could jump directly to humans. In a prominent 2015 study, an international team that included WIV scientists used HeLa cells to test if engineered or newly discovered bat coronaviruses could bind to and infect human cells. Testing the virus on human cell lines allowed researchers to evaluate the public health threat posed by wild virus strains.
2. Identifying Cellular Entry Receptors
To understand how a virus infects a human body, scientists must figure out which specific receptor on a cell's surface acts as the "doorknob" for the virus. Because standard HeLa cells naturally lack or have low expression of certain receptors like ACE2 (the primary receptor used by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2), researchers frequently modified them. They genetically engineered HeLa cells to express human ACE2 to prove whether a specific virus required that receptor to successfully enter and replicate inside human tissue.
3. General Virological and Molecular Controls
Beyond coronavirus research, HeLa cells are used across almost all biomedical labs in China and globally as a baseline control line. They replicate rapidly, are cheap to maintain, and provide a highly predictable baseline for studying generic cellular processes, drug delivery, and general cytotoxicity.
While the use of HeLa cells in Wuhan has been heavily scrutinized in discussions surrounding the origins of COVID-19, their presence in these laboratories was not unique; they are standard foundational infrastructure in virtually any modern virology lab globally..Cytotoxicity is the quality of a chemical, drug, or immune cell to cause damage or death to living cells..