Polymerization of affinity ligands on a surface for enhanced ligand display and cell binding

Surfaces functionalized with affinity ligands have been widely studied for applications such as biological separations and cell regulation. While individual ligands can be directly conjugated onto a surface, it is often important to conjugate polyvalent ligands onto the surface to enhance ligand display. This study was aimed at exploring a method for surface functionalization via polymerization of affinity ligands, which was achieved through ligand hybridization with DNA polymers protruding from the surface. The surface with polyvalent ligands was evaluated via aptamer-mediated cell binding. The results show that this surface bound target cells more effectively than a surface directly functionalized with individual ligands in situations with either equal amounts of ligand display or equal amounts of surface reaction sites. Therefore, this study has demonstrated a new strategy for surface functionalization to enhance ligand display and cell binding. This strategy may find broad applications in settings where surface area is limited or the surface of a material does not possess sufficient reaction sites.