In the present study, we have developed a novel method termed DISplay with which biomolecules of interest were displayed at the cell surface within an hour. Armed with this method, we could rapidly make targeted cells stick to dying but not living cells. Additional Rac activation then turned these cells into an “eat you” mode, resulting in ingestion of dying neighbor cells. In the near future, we hope the DISplay method will become a seed cell therapy to clean up junk in our body such as pathological cancer cells and toxic substances like amyloid beta plaques.
Researcher Information
JST PRESTO
Research Area: “Design and Control of Cellular Functions”
Research Theme: “Reconsituting Chemotaxis”
Journal Information
Author: Hiroki Onuma, Toru Komatsu, Makoto Arita, Kenjiro Hanaoka, Tasuku Ueno, Takuya Terai, Tetsuo Nagano, and Takanari Inoue.
Title: “Rapidly rendering cells phagocytic through a cell-surface display technique and concurrent Rac activation”
Scienece Signaling, Published online 15 July 2014
doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2005123
Contact
[About Research]
Takanari Inoue, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
E-mail: 
URL: http://pages.jh.edu/~inouelab/people.html
[About Program]
Koji Matsuo, Takafumi Kawaguchi, and Yuji Yamagishi
Life Innovation Group, Department of Innovation Research, JST
E-mail: 