Synthesis of Polymers via Cancer Cell Metabolism-Mediated Controlled Radical Polymerization and Application in Engineering of Cell Surface

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