Recent progress in epitope-imprinted polymers for disease diagnosis and treatment

Molecularly imprinted polymers face challenges in protein imprinting due to the scarcity and instability of protein templates. Epitope-imprinted polymers (EIPs) address these limitations by employing short peptide epitopes as templates, thereby enabling the precise and efficient recognition of target proteins. With these advantages, EIPs have demonstrated promising potential in disease diagnosis and treatment, attracting substantial research attention in recent years. This review summarizes the latest progress in EIP applications across these domains. First, we categorize epitope imprinting strategies based on the number and structural features of epitope templates. Subsequently, in the context of disease diagnosis, we systematically evaluate the applications of EIPs in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and immune diseases. For disease treatment, we introduce the roles of EIPs in signal pathway regulation, enzyme activity regulation, drug delivery, and photothermal therapy. Finally, we briefly discuss current challenges and future perspectives for EIPs in advancing disease diagnosis and treatment.