Surface-Initiated Synthesis of Cell-Specific Glycopolymers using Live Mammalian Cells as Templates.

Molecular recognition is an important process in life activities where specificity is the key. However, the method to gain specificity are often complex and time-consuming. Here, we have developed a novel, versatile and effective way to obtain cell-specific glycosurfaces by surface-initiated Cu-mediated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (Cu-RDRP) in an open to air fashion. Mammalian cells were used for the first time as live templates to realize cell-sugar monomer-aptation-polymerization (CS-MAP) which could produce cell-specific glycosurfaces. We use both EpCAM positive cells L929 and EpCAM negative cells Hela as models to acquire two cell-specific glycosurfaces, which can distinguish template-cells from others. The strategy is effective and convenient without the need of fixative pretreatment of cells. We found that the specific capture does not rely on epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) antibodies, and the specificity is related to the composition and chain sequence of the glycopolymer brushes rather than surface morphology. In addition, these glycosurfaces kept the ability to identify the target cells after ten regenerative treatments, which provides another advantage for practical applications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.