Many nanomaterials can induce cell autophagy, which can be either a concern in most in vivo situations or a benefit when exploited in cancer therapeutics. A family of short synthetic peptides that have a varied affinity to lanthanide oxide and lanthanide-based upconversion nanocrystals are now used to tune the degree of interaction between cells and nanocrystals, and thus the nanocrystals’ autophagy-inducing activity.
Tuning the autophagy-inducing activity of lanthanide-based nanocrystals through specific surface-coating peptides