Engineering the Mammalian Cell Surface with Synthetic Polymers: Strategies and Applications

Manipulating the surface of living cells represents a powerful tool by which to control cell behavior and provides a unique strategy to modulate cellular function and cell-cell interactions. Recent progress in this area has seen the development of robust and elegant approaches to selectively decorate the cell surface, leading to unprecedented advances in cellular manipulation and cell-based therapies. Despite some impressive in vitro results, several obstacles remain to the broader application of some of these strategies, including their limited translation in vivo. In this review, the leading techniques used to introduce polymers at the plasma membrane of mammalian cells are discussed, focusing on strategies that generate a stable and homogeneous distribution of polymeric chains at the cell surface. Application of these strategies to control cell behavior and deliver cell-based therapies to targeted tissues are highlighted.