Work

Instructed Assembly as Context‐Dependent Signaling for the Death and Morphogenesis of Cells

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Context‐dependent signaling is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature, but ways to mimic the essence of these nano‐ and microscale dynamic molecular processes by noncovalent synthesis in the cellular environment have yet to be developed. Herein we present a dynamic continuum of noncovalent filaments formed by the instructed assembly (iA) of a supramolecular phosphoglycopeptide (sPGP) as context‐dependent signals for controlling the death and morphogenesis of cells. Specifically, ectophosphatase enzymes on cancer cells catalyze the formation of sPGP filaments to result in cell death; however, damping of the enzyme activity induces the formation 3D cell spheroids. Similarly, the ratio of stromal and cancer cells in a coculture can be used to modulate the expression of the ectophosphatase, so that the iA process leads to the formation of cell spheroids. The spheroids mimic the tumor microenvironment for drug screening.

Source: Angewandte Chemie International Edition

DOI: 10.1002/anie.201812998

Authors: Huaimin Wang, Zhaoqianqi Feng, Bing Xu

Institution: Brandeis University

Language: English

Topic: Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials

Subfield: Biomaterials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute

Awards: Bioinspired Soft Materials, G1624049659, G4086420777, G711113204, G951687747