We describe the preparation and characterization of synthetic antibodies based on molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MIP-NPs) for the recognition and binding of the highly conserved and specific peptide motif SWSNKS (3S), an epitope of the envelope glycoprotein 41 (gp41) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). This motif is implicated in the decline of CD4+ T cells and leads to the deterioration of the immune system during HIV infection. Therefore, the development of MIP-NPs that can target and block the 3S peptide to prevent subsequent cascade interactions directed toward the killing of CD4+ T cells is of prime importance. Because most antibodies recognize their protein antigen via a conformational or structured epitope (as opposed to a linear epitope commonly used for molecular imprinting), we employed protein molecular modeling to design our template epitope so that it mimics the three-dimensional structure fold of 3S in gp41. The resulting template peptide corresponds to a cyclic structure composed of CGSWSNKSC, with the 3S motif well orientated for imprinting. MIP-NPs with a size of 65 nm were obtained by solid-phase synthesis and were water-soluble. They were prepared by a judicious combination of multiple functional monomers affording hydrogen bonding, ionic, π-π, and hydrophobic interactions, conferring high affinity and selectivity toward both the cyclic peptide and the whole gp41 protein. These results suggest that our MIPs could potentially be used for blocking the function of the 3S motif on the virus.
Keywords: 3S peptide; HIV; epitope; gp41; molecularly imprinted polymer; solid-phase synthesis.