Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer.
In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Quantum biological tunnelling for electron transfer is involved in controlling essential functions for life such as cellular respiration and homoeostasis. Understanding and controlling the quantum effects in biology has the potential to modulate biological functions.
Here we merge wireless nano-electrochemical tools with cancer cells for control over electron transfer to trigger cancer cell death. Gold bipolar nanoelectrodes functionalized with redox-active cytochrome c and a redox mediator zinc porphyrin are developed as electric-field-stimulating bio-actuators, termed bio-nanoantennae. We show that a remote electrical input regulates electron transport between these redox molecules, which results in quantum biological tunnelling for electron transfer to trigger apoptosis in patient-derived cancer cells in a selective manner.
Transcriptomics data show that the electric-field-induced bio-nanoantenna targets the cancer cells in a unique manner, representing electrically induced control of molecular signalling.
The work shows the potential of quantum-based medical diagnostics and treatments. We are entering an era where it has been realized that bioelectricity, defined as the electrical language of cells, programs cell function 1 , 2. The cell is increasingly viewed as a mass of bioelectrical interconnected circuits that use an endogenous current generated by electron transfer processes to communicate with each other to maintain homoeostasis 3.
