Emerging Applications of Nanotechnology for Controlling Cell-Surface Receptor Clustering.

The spatial organization of cell-surface receptors plays an important role in defining cell fate. Recently, the development of strategies for the direct regulation of receptor clustering using nanomaterials has aroused enormous interest. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms and features of recently developed nanomaterial-based strategies to control the nanoscale distribution of cell binding ligands and regulate cell behavior. We expect this review to inspire innovative work on manipulating cell functions by controlling the clustering of cell surface receptors.