Molecularly Imprinted Synthetic Antibodies: From Chemical Design to Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Billions of dollars are invested into the monoclonal antibody market every year to meet the increasing demand in clinical diagnosis and therapy. However, natural antibodies still suffer from poor stability and high cost, as well as ethical issues in animal experiments. Thus, developing antibody substitutes or mimics is a long‐term goal for scientists. The molecular imprinting technique presents one of the most promising strategies for antibody mimicking. The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are also called “molecularly imprinted synthetic antibodies” (MISAs). The breakthroughs of key technologies and innovations in chemistry and material science in the last decades have led to the rapid development of MISAs, and their molecular affinity has become comparable to that of natural antibodies. Currently, MISAs are undergoing a revolutionary transformation of their applications, from initial adsorption and separation to the rising fields of biomedicine. Herein, the fundamental chemical design of MISAs is examined, and then current progress in biomedical applications is the focus. Meanwhile, the potential of MISAs as qualified substitutes or even to transcend the performance of natural antibodies is discussed from the perspective of frontier needs in biomedicines, to facilitate the rapid development of synthetic artificial antibodies.

Chiral Mesoporous Silica Materials: A Review on Synthetic Strategies and Applications

“…The molecular imprinting technique acts as a methodology for the formation of specific cavities to selectively bind ‘guest’ molecules in the presence of templates [ 41 ]. These resulting molecularly imprinted materials are characterized by a high degree of stereo- and regiospecific selectivity, offering enormous potential for chiral separation [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ] and antibody mimics [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. It has been logical, therefore, to apply chiral imprinting in the design of CMS with amino acids [ 48 ].…”

Developments of Smart Drug-Delivery Systems Based on Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Targeted Cancer Therapy: A Short Review

“…In addition, compared to the non-imprinted polymeric NPs, the chief advantages of MIPs are their high selectivity and affinity for the target molecule, leading to the higher loading capacity and potential lower dose-dumping and immature burst release of the cargo [ 38 ]. They have been implemented in the development of biosensors [ 41 ], antibody mimics [ 42 ], catalysis [ 43 ], molecular recognition [ 44 ], drug delivery [ 45 , 46 ], diagnostics [ 47 ] and other biomedical applications [ 36 ]. As drug-delivery carriers, they have favorable specific binding tendency and loading, stability under different harsh settings, flexibility and antibody-like recognition [ 48 ].…”

Rapid and selective recognition of Vibrio parahaemolyticus assisted by perfluorinated alkoxysilane modified molecularly imprinted polymer film

“…14 Therefore, it is critical to design and fabrication of articial antibodies with easy availability and high stability, as alternatives to the natural antibodies. 15,16 Molecular imprinting technology (MIT) has been employed as a promising approach to synthesize articial antibodies, 17 which can create molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with tailor-made binding sites complementary to the size, shape, and surface functional groups of template molecules. 18 The synthesized articial antibodies exhibit a natural antibody-like binding affinity and selectivity.…”