Control of cell attachment through polyDNA hybridization

Abstract

Cell-cell interactions play vital roles in embryo development and in homeostasis maintenance. Such interactions must be stringently controlled for cell-based tissue engineering and regenerative medicine therapies, and methods for studying and controlling cell-cell interactions are being developed using both biomedical and engineering approaches. In this study, we prepared amphiphilic PEG-lipid polymers that were attached to polyDNA with specific sequences. Incubation of cells with the polyDNA-PEG-lipid conjugate transferred some of the polyDNA to the cells' surfaces. Similarly, polyDNA-PEG-lipid conjugate using polyDNA with a complementary sequence was introduced to the surfaces of other cells or to a substrate surface. Cell-cell or cell-substrate attachments were subsequently mediated via hybridization between the two complementary polyDNAs and monitored using fluorescence microscopy.