Epitope approach in molecular imprinting of antibodies

Abstract

Herein an approach to prepare molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) with specific binding affinity for antibodies is reported. The process relied on the covalent immobilization of the template (whole immunoglobulin G (IgG), Fc domain of human IgG and peptide epitope) onto the surface of a solid support, polymerization and affinity separation of nanoMIPs. The binding between nanoMIPs and their corresponding templates was analyzed and evaluated as being in sub-nanomolar and nano-molar range. The nanoMIPs prepared for Fc domain and epitope demonstrated a specific recognition of both human and goat IgGs, therefore they could be considered as a synthetic analogue of protein A and benefit from its intrinsic stability, short time and low cost of preparation.

Keywords: Affinity chromatography; Antibodies; Molecular imprinting polymers; Nanoparticles; Protein epitope; Solid-phase synthesis.