Photosynthetic medicine: Engineering a plant-derived nanofoundry to power mammalian cells

Qimanguli Saiding; Tian Xie; Wei Tao

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.001

Photosynthetic medicine: Engineering a plant-derived nanofoundry to power mammalian cells

Cell. 2026 Jul 9;189(14):4185-4187. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.001.

Authors

Qimanguli Saiding¹, Tian Xie², Wei Tao³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Nanomedicine and Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
² Institute of Integration and Innovation for Chinese-Western Medicine, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan 611137, China; School of Pharmacy, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311121, China. Electronic address: tianxie@hznu.edu.cn.
³ Center for Nanomedicine and Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: wtao@bwh.harvard.edu.

PMID: 42425061
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.001

Abstract

Mammalian eyes receive constant visible light yet lack photosynthesis. Xing et al. engineer an intact thylakoid grana nanoparticle enabling light-driven NADPH production within corneal cells, restoring antioxidant defenses and interrupting inflammatory cycles in dry eye disease. This work positions borrowed photosynthesis as a therapeutic strategy for oxidative, light-exposed tissue pathologies.

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MeSH terms

Animals
Humans
NADP / metabolism
Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Photosynthesis*
Thylakoids / metabolism

Substances

NADP