On-Demand Elongation\nof Peptide Nanofibrils at Cellular\nInterfaces to Modulate Cell–Cell Interactions

Natural cells can achieve specific cell–cell interactions\nby enriching nonspecific binding molecules on demand at intercellular\ncontact faces, a pathway currently beyond synthetic capabilities.\nWe are inspired to construct responsive peptide fibrils on cell surfaces,\nwhich elongate upon encountering target cells while maintaining a\nshort length when contacting competing cells, as directed by a strand-displacement\nreaction arranged on target cell surfaces. With the display of ligands\nthat bind to both target and competing cells, the contact-induced,\nregion-selective fibril elongation selectively promotes host–target\ncell interactions via the accumulation of nonspecific ligands between\nmatched cells. This approach is effective in guiding natural killer\ncells, the broad-spectrum effector lymphocytes, to eliminate specific\ncancer cells. In contrast to conventional methods relying on target\ncell-specific binding molecules for the desired cellular interactions,\nthis dynamic scaffold-based approach would broaden the scope of cell\ncombinations for manipulation and enhance the adjustability of cell\nbehaviors for future applications.