Synthesis of\nPolymers via Cancer Cell Metabolism-Mediated\nControlled Radical Polymerization and Application in Engineering of\nCell Surface

In this study, we present a novel chemical biology strategy\nthat\nleverages the reductive metabolic pathways of cancer cells to develop\na new approach for synthesizing polymers in nonstrictly anaerobic\nconditions. This method utilizes the reductive metabolism of cancer\ncells to reduce Cu(II) to Cu(I), enabling Cu(I)-catalyzed controlled\nradical polymerization with poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate\n(MAPEGOMe) monomer, producing polymers with low dispersity (1.28–1.38).\nFurthermore, we found that this method could use MAPEGOMe as a monomer\nto in situ form a polymer layer on the initiator-modified cell surface,\nachieving a cell surface engineering modification. This study reveals\nthe broad application value and potential of cancer cell metabolism-mediated\ncontrolled radical polymerization in the fields of chemical biology\nand polymer science.