Evaluation of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Point-of-Care Testing for Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Molecular imprinting is a rapidly growing area of interest involving the synthesis of artificial recognition elements that enable the separation of analyte from a sample matrix and its determination. Traditionally, this approach can be successfully applied to small analyte (<1.5 kDa) separation/ extraction, but, more recently it is finding utility in biomimetic sensors. These sensors consist of a recognition element and a transducer similar to their biosensor counterparts, however, the fundamental distinction is that biomimetic sensors employ an artificial recognition element. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) employed as the recognition elements in biomimetic sensors contain binding sites complementary in shape and functionality to their target analyte. Despite the growing interest in molecularly imprinting techniques, the commercial adoption of this technology is yet to be widely realised for blood sample analysis. This review aims to assess the applicability of this technology for the point-of-care testing (POCT) of cardiovascular disease-related biomarkers. More specifically, molecular imprinting is critically evaluated with respect to the detection of cardiac biomarkers indicative of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), such as the cardiac troponins (cTns). The challenges associated with the synthesis of MIPs for protein detection are outlined, in addition to enhancement techniques that ultimately improve the analytical performance of biomimetic sensors. The mechanism of detection employed to convert the analyte concentration into a measurable signal in biomimetic sensors will be discussed. Furthermore, the analytical performance of these sensors will be compared with biosensors and their potential implementation within clinical settings will be considered. In addition, the most suitable application of these sensors for cardiovascular assessment will be presented.

Advanced Biomimetic Nanomaterials for Non-invasive Disease Diagnosis

“…Some biomimetic nanomaterials, such as metal oxides (Piro and Reisberg, 2017;Nikolova and Chavali, 2020), metal hydroxides (Sun et al, 2019) metallodendrimers (Tang et al, 2011), and polymers (Zhao et al, 2018;Regan et al, 2019) have also been applied as biomimetic nanomaterials for disease diagnosis; however, these nanomaterials are not discussed in this review.…”

Current Status of Clinical Application of Point-of-Care Testing

“…These polymers contain binding sites complementary in shape and function to their target analyte and their use has been critically evaluated in the detection of biomarkers of acute coronary syndrome. 52 The most obvious contribution of POCT to cardiovascular disease evaluation is diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. Currently, diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is dependent on the change of cardiac troponin (cTn) concentrations, with at least one measurement above the 99th-percentile upper reference limit and evidence of one other listed criterion specified by the European Society of Cardiologists.…”

“…53 Despite the importance of the analytical sensitivity of cTn measured by POC devices, there are significant differences in limit of detection among equipment using biosensors and biomimetic sensors for cardiac biomarkers. 52 Although highsensitivity cTn assays measure relatively low values and document small increases above the 99th percentile upper reference limit, many contemporary and POC cTn assays may not detect small increases within the reference interval or at slightly above the 99th-percentile upper reference limit. This may lead to substantial differences in frequency of events based solely on the cTn assay used.…”

Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Microfluidic Systems for Point-of-Care Applications

“…MIPs have shown high performance in several applications, generally exceeding the conventional methods and providing a more cost-effective approach [44]. For instance, Ali et al prepared MIP-based hydrogels for the release of ketotifen fumarate that were employed in therapeutic contact lenses.…”