Reengineering of cancer cell surface charges can modulate cell migration

The ability to modulate the cell surface structure provides a powerful tool to understand fundamental processes and also to elicit desired cellular responses. Here we report the development of a new class of ‘clickable labels’ to reengineer the cell surface charges of live cells. The method relies on the use of metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) combined with chemo selective labeling of cell surface azido-containing sialic acids with dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) ionic-probes. Using this strategy, we demonstrate that reducing the negative charge induced by the overexpression of cell surface sialic acids in cancer cells leads to a reduction in cell migration without affecting drug supceptibility.