Illuminating Cell Signaling with Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Nanomaterials

ACS Nano. 2016 Apr 26;10(4):3881-3885. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.6b02284. Epub 2016 Apr 14.

Abstract

The regulation of cellular signaling in vivo has been a challenging task owing to the lack of effective methods for tunable control of the amplitude, location, and duration of cell-signaling events at a deep-tissue level. In this issue of ACS Nano, an intriguing paper by Ambrosone et al. demonstrates that deep-tissue-penetrating near-infrared (NIR) light can be used to control the Wnt/β-catenin-signaling pathway in a single-cell organism (Hydra) by utilizing microcapsules that contain plasmonic gold nanoparticles. In parallel, in recent work, we proposed upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) as NIR-light-activatable "wireless" optogenetic tools, and we showed their ability to modulate cell signaling pathways in both mammalian cells and mice. We believe that these interesting NIR-light-responsive nanotechnologies will open new avenues for both basic research and clinical applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Infrared Rays*
  • Mice
  • Nanoparticles
  • Nanostructures*
  • Optogenetics
  • beta Catenin

Substances

  • beta Catenin