Spotlights of MIP-sensors for drugs and protein biomarkers

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) are potential tools in pharmaceutical analysis and for determining protein biomarkers. This review presents a comprehensive comparison of MIP synthesis concepts, i.e., segment vs. whole template imprinting and polymerization of the template/monomer mixture vs. “hierarchical (oriented) imprinting” and combinations of MIPs with enzymes, antibodies, and aptamers, respectively. For low-molecular-weight substances such as drugs and biomacromolecules, the hierarchical polymer synthesis around the oriented template results in MIPs with higher affinity than MIPs prepared by polymerizing a mixture of the template and functional monomers. Application of the target molecule fragments as the template, so-called epitopes, gives MIPs that possess comparable affinity towards the whole analyte as the “Whole-molecule”-MIPs, but the synthesis costs are considerably lower. The combination of MIPs with enzymes, antibodies, and aptamers allows the expansion of the analyte spectrum, amplifies the signal, and suppresses interfering substances. Catalytically active MIPs may, in the future, substitute enzymes and catalyze unnatural reactions.