Publications Involving HeLa Cells

A yearly tally of how many publications cited the use of HeLa cells appears in the chart below. It is interesting to note that in the first decade (1953-1963) of HeLa cell use, the most publications that occurred in any one year numbered only 127 (1963). As shown in the chart, there has been a strong and steady increase in the use of HeLa cells with a peak of approximately 6,200 publications in 2015. Please note that we have not finished compiling the statistics for the number of publications from 2016, 2017, and 2018. They will be updated shortly.

The continuous upward trend in publications since 1953 clearly show that even after six decades, HeLa cells are a vital tool that allow scientists to conduct essential basic research.

Number of publications, per year, from 1953 to 2018

*Publications are still being populated for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018 and the number of publications using HeLa cells per year are lower as a result.

Highly Cited Publications by Year

Below, you will find a decade-by-decade list of the most highly cited publications, relating to HeLa cells, from each year. The number of citations that a publication receives is one measure of the impact the publication has made on the scientific community.

1950s

1953	Studies on the propagation in vitro of poliomyelitis viruses: IV. Viral multiplication in a stable strain of human malignant epithelial cells (strain hela) derived from an epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix
1954	Cytolytic Effects of Mumps Virus in Tissue Cultures of Epithelial Cells.
1955	Propagation in a Fluid Medium of a Human Epidermoid Carcinoma, Strain KB
1956	Action of x-rays on mammalian cells
1957	Action of x-rays on mammalian cells. II. Survival curves of cells from normal human tissues
1958	A protein factor responsible for the early cytopathic effect of adenoviruses
1959	The effect of diphtheria toxin on the metabolism of HeLa cells.

1960s

1960	Studies on Unbalanced Growth in Tissue Culture I. Induction and Consequences of Thymidine Deficiency
1961	Changes in X-ray sensitivity of HeLa cells during the division cycle
1962	Sedimentation Characteristics of Rapidly Labelled RNA from HeLa Cells
1963	An improved nutrient solution for diploid Chinese hamster and human cell lines
1964	Hydroxyurea: Inhibitory effect on DNA metabolism
1965	Hybrid cells derived from mouse and man: Artificial heterokaryons of mammalian cells from different species
1966	RNA metabolism in the HeLa cell nucleus
1967	A dye-buoyant-density method for the detection and isolation of closed circular duplex DNA: the closed circular DNA in HeLa cells.
1968	On the mechanism of DNA replication in mammalian chromosomes
1969	Fine structural organization of the interphase nucleus in some mammalian cells

1970s

1970	Mammalian cell fusion: Induction of premature chromosome condensation in interphase nuclei
1971	Polyadenylic acid sequences in the heterogeneous nuclear RNA and rapidly-labeled polyribosomal RNA of HeLa cells: possible evidence for a precursor relationship.
1972	Biogenesis and characterization of histone messenger RNA in HeLa cells
1973	Rapid, simultaneous measurement of DNA, protein, and cell volume in single cells from large mammalian cell populations
1974	Three abundance classes in HeLa cell messenger RNA
1975	Supercoils in human DNA
1976	Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis of Membrane Proteins
1977	Sizing and mapping of early adenovirus mRNAs by gel electrophoresis of S1 endonuclease-digested hybrids
1978	Selective assay of monomeric and filamentous actin in cell extracts, using inhibition of deoxyribonuclease I
1979	Promotion of microtubule assembly in vitro by taxol [19]

1980s

1980	Taxol stabilizes microtubules in mouse fibroblast cells
1981	TRNA punctuation model of RNA processing in human mitochondria
1982	Transformation of mammalian cells to antibiotic resistance with a bacterial gene under control of the SV40 early region promoter
1983	Accurate transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II in a soluble extract from isolated mammalian nuclei
1984	A new type of papillomavirus DNA, its presence in genital cancer biopsies and in cell lines derived from cervical cancer.
1985	Camptothecin induces protein-linked DNA breaks via mammalian DNA topoisomerase I
1986	Staurosporine, a potent inhibitor of phospholipid Ca++dependent protein kinase
1987	High-efficiency transformation of mammalian cells by plasmid DNA.
1988	Cellular uptake of the tat protein from human immunodeficiency virus
1989	HIV with reduced sensitivity to zidovudine (AZT) isolated during prolonged therapy

1990s

1990	Telomeres shorten during ageing of human fibroblasts
1991	A Novel Cyclin Encoded by a BCL1-linked Candidate Oncogene
1992	Tight control of gene expression in mammalian cells by tetracycline-responsive promoters
1993	A new regulatory motif in cell-cycle control causing specific inhibition of cyclin D/CDK4
1994	Cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase by a proteinase with properties like ICE
1995	A biomarker that identifies senescent human cells in culture and in aging skin in vivo
1996	In vivo gene delivery and stable transduction of nondividing cells by a lentiviral vector
1997	Prevention of apoptosis by Bcl-2: Release of cytochrome c from mitochondria blocked
1998	Quantum dot bioconjugates for ultrasensitive nonisotopic detection
1999	The tumour suppressor protein VHL targets hypoxia-inducible factors for oxygen-dependent proteolysis

2000s

2000	LC3, a mammalian homologue of yeast Apg8p, is localized in autophagosome membranes after processing
2001	Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells
2002	Release of chromatin protein HMGB1 by necrotic cells triggers inflammation
2003	Prediction of Mammalian MicroRNA Targets
2004	Hepcidin regulates cellular iron efflux by binding to ferroportin and inducing its internalization
2005	Microarray analysis shows that some microRNAs downregulate large numbers of-target mRNAs
2006	Determining the size and shape dependence of gold nanoparticle uptake into mammalian cells
2007	MicroRNA Targeting Specificity in Mammals: Determinants beyond Seed Pairing
2008	MaxQuant enables high peptide identification rates, individualized p.p.b.-range mass accuracies and proteome-wide protein quantification
2009	Universal sample preparation method for proteome analysis

2010s

2010	Mammalian microRNAs predominantly act to decrease target mRNA levels
2011	Andromeda: A peptide search engine integrated into the MaxQuant environment
2012	Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets
2013	Natural RNA circles function as efficient microRNA sponges
2014	Accurate proteome-wide label-free quantification by delayed normalization and maximal peptide ratio extraction, termed MaxLFQ
2015	The ubiquitin kinase PINK1 recruits autophagy receptors to induce mitophagy
2016	Circular RNA profiling reveals an abundant circHIPK3 that regulates cell growth by sponging multiple miRNAs
2017	Circ-ZNF609 Is a Circular RNA that Can Be Translated and Functions in Myogenesis
2018	*Highly cited paper for 2018 unable to be identified because publications are still being populated