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Intracellular self-assembly of supramolecular gelators to selectively kill cells of interest

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 883–889 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The significant progress in supramolecular chemistry since the end of last century includes the development of supramolecular gels. In particular, the spatiotemporal self-assembly of synthetic small gelator molecules has attracted increasing attention owing to their ability to achieve certain functional properties in a designated space at a designated time. Peptides conjugated with hydrophobic moieties are typical examples of supramolecular gelators (low molecular weight gelators, LMWGs), which can be designed or programmed to self-assemble to form nanofibers/nanosheets in response to a broad range of stimuli or microenvironments. In the last decade, several groups have reported that the self-assembly of small gelator molecules achieved inside living cells or on the surfaces of living cells induced selective cell death, which would lead to a novel therapeutic approach or a novel cell selection tool. This focused review outlines the self-assembly of small gelator molecules inside living cells that control cell fate.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported partially by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 18K18976, 18H04556, and 19H05458.

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  1. Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan

    Tatsuo Maruyama & Witta Kartika Restu

  2. Research Center for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Kawasan Puspiptek Serpong, Tangerang Selatan, Banten, 15314, Indonesia

    Witta Kartika Restu

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Correspondence to Tatsuo Maruyama.

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Maruyama, T., Restu, W.K. Intracellular self-assembly of supramolecular gelators to selectively kill cells of interest. Polym J 52, 883–889 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-020-0335-8

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