Cell death versus cell survival instructed by supramolecular cohesion of nanostructures

Christina J. Newcomb, Shantanu Sur, Julia H. Ortony, One-Sun Lee, John B. Matson, Job Boekhoven, Jeong Min Yu, George C. Schatz and Samuel I. Stupp ()
Additional contact information
Christina J. Newcomb: Northwestern University
Shantanu Sur: The Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University
Julia H. Ortony: The Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University
One-Sun Lee: Northwestern University
John B. Matson: The Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University
Job Boekhoven: The Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University
Jeong Min Yu: The Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, Northwestern University
George C. Schatz: Northwestern University
Samuel I. Stupp: Northwestern University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Many naturally occurring peptides containing cationic and hydrophobic domains have evolved to interact with mammalian cell membranes and have been incorporated into materials for non-viral gene delivery, cancer therapy or treatment of microbial infections. Their electrostatic attraction to the negatively charged cell surface and hydrophobic interactions with the membrane lipids enable intracellular delivery or cell lysis. Although the effects of hydrophobicity and cationic charge of soluble molecules on the cell membrane are well known, the interactions between materials with these molecular features and cells remain poorly understood. Here we report that varying the cohesive forces within nanofibres of supramolecular materials with nearly identical cationic and hydrophobic structure instruct cell death or cell survival. Weak intermolecular bonds promote cell death through disruption of lipid membranes, while materials reinforced by hydrogen bonds support cell viability. These findings provide new strategies to design biomaterials that interact with the cell membrane.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4321 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4321

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4321

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().