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Biomaterials

Plastic antibodies

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 612–614 (2010)Cite this article

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Imprinting molecular memory on the surface of polymer nanoparticles creates artificial antibodies that can recognize and neutralize a toxic peptide in vivo.

Like a hand in a glove, antibodies fit perfectly with their target antigens and are able to recognize them with high affinity and selectivity. They are, therefore, invaluable tools in medicine, both for treatment and diagnostics. Antibodies are used to treat infections and diseases and save many lives, for example, as an antiserum for snake venom. More recently, cancer therapies based on antibodies have been developed1. In biochemical diagnostics, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays are widely used to detect and quantify small and large targets by means of a specific biological recognition mechanism. However, nature's own antibodies are not always perfect for these applications owing to instability when out of their native environment, degradation by proteases, and difficulties in obtaining an antibody for the particular target of interest. As a result, it has been a long-term scientific goal to chemically synthesize such structures, thus creating tailor-made receptors for a molecular target.

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Figure 1: A schematic representation of molecular imprinting of a synthetic polymer.
Figure 2: Biodistribution of melittin and MIP nanoparticles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karsten Haupt is in the Deparment of Bioengineering, Compiègne University of Technology, UMR CNRS 6022, BP 20529, 60205 Compiègne, France. karsten.haupt@utc.fr,

    Karsten Haupt

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  1. Karsten Haupt
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Haupt, K. Plastic antibodies. Nature Mater 9, 612–614 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2818

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2818

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