Enzymatic switch, such as phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of proteins, is the most important mechanism for cellular signal transductions. Inspired by Nature and encouraged by our recent unexpected observation of the dephosphorylation of D-tyrosine phosphate-contain small peptides, we modify the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) with D-tyrosine phosphate that is a substrate of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Our studies find that ALP is able to remove the phosphate groups from the magnetic nanoparticles. Most importantly, placental alkaline phosphatase (ALPP), an ectoenzyme that locates on cell surface with catalytic domains outside the plasma membrane and is overexpressed on many cancer cells, dephosphorylate the D-tyrosine phosphates on the surface of the magnetic nanoparticle and enable the magnetic nanoparticles to adhere selectively to the cancer cells, such as He La cells. Unlikely commonly used antibodies, the selectivity of the magnetic nanoparticles to cancer cells originates from the enzymatic reaction catalyzed by ALPP. The use of enzymatic reaction to modulate the surface of various nanostructures may lead to a general method to broadly target cancer cells without relying on specific ligand-receptor interactions (e.g., antibodies). This work, thus, illustrates a fundamentally new concept to allow cells to actively engineer the surface of colloids materials, such as magnetic nanoparticles, for various applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.