Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Jul 6;59(28):11379-11383. doi: 10.1002/anie.202005148. Epub 2020 May 7.
Cell-based therapies are gaining prominence in treating a wide variety of diseases and using synthetic polymers to manipulate these cells provides an opportunity to impart function that could not be achieved using solely genetic means. Herein, we describe the utility of functional block copolymers synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) that can insert directly into the cell membrane via the incorporation of long alkyl chains into a short polymer block leading to non-covalent, hydrophobic interactions with the lipid bilayer. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these polymers can be imbued with advanced functionalities. A photosensitizer was incorporated into these polymers to enable spatially controlled cell death by the localized generation of O at the cell surface in response to red-light irradiation. In a broader context, we believe our polymer insertion strategy could be used as a general methodology to impart functionality onto cell-surfaces.
细胞疗法在治疗多种疾病方面日益受到关注，而使用合成聚合物来操纵这些细胞则提供了一种机会，可以赋予仅通过遗传手段无法实现的功能。在此，我们描述了通过开环复分解聚合（ROMP）合成的功能嵌段共聚物的实用性，这些共聚物可以通过将长烷基链引入短聚合物嵌段直接插入细胞膜，从而与脂质双层产生非共价、疏水相互作用。此外，我们证明这些聚合物可以赋予先进的功能。将光增敏剂掺入这些聚合物中，使细胞表面能够通过局部产生 O 来实现对红光照射的响应，从而实现空间控制的细胞死亡。从更广泛的角度来看，我们相信我们的聚合物插入策略可以用作在细胞表面赋予功能的通用方法。
