Depletion of albumin and immunoglobulin G from human serum using epitope-imprinted polymers as artificial antibodies

Molecularly imprinted polymers for sensing/depleting human serum albumin (HSA): A critical review of recent advances and current challenges

Human serum albumin (HSA) is an essential biomacromolecule in the blood circulatory system because it carries numerous molecules, including fatty acids (FAs), bilirubin, metal ions, hormones, and different pharmaceuticals, and plays a significant role in regulating blood osmotic pressure. Fluctuations in HSA levels in human biofluids, particularly urine and serum, are associated with several disorders, such as elevated blood pressure, diabetes mellitus (DM), liver dysfunction, and a wide range of renal diseases. Thus, the ability to quickly and accurately measure HSA levels is important for the rapid identification of these disorders in human populations. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), well known as artificial antibodies (Abs), have been extensively used for the quantitative detection of small molecules and macromolecules, especially HSA, in recent decades. This review highlights major challenges and recent developments in the application of MIPs to detect HSA in artificial and real samples. The fabrication and application of various MIPs for the depletion of HSA are also discussed, as well as different MIP preparation approaches and strategies for overcoming obstacles that hinder the development of MIPs with high efficiency and recognition capability for HSA determination/depletion.

Imprinted Polymers on the Route to Plastibodies for Biomacromolecules (MIPs), Viruses (VIPs), and Cells (CIPs)

Around 30% of the scientific papers published on imprinted polymers describe the recognition of proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, and cells. The straightforward synthesis from only one up to six functional monomers and the simple integration into a sensor are significant advantages as compared with enzymes or antibodies. Furthermore, they can be synthesized against toxic substances and structures of low immunogenicity and allow multi-analyte measurements via multi-template synthesis. The affinity is sufficiently high for protein biomarkers, DNA, viruses, and cells. However, the cross-reactivity of highly abundant proteins is still a challenge.

Peptide conformational imprints enhanced the catalytic activity of papain for esterification

Peptide conformational imprints (PCIs) offer a promising perspective to directly generate binding sites for preserving enzymes with high catalytic activity and stability. In this study, we synthesized a new chiral cross-linker cost-effectively for controlling the matrix morphology of PCIs on magnetic particles (PCIMPs) to stabilize their recognition capability. Meanwhile, based on the flank part of the sequences on papain (PAP), three epitope peptides were selected and synthesized. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were then fabricated in the presence of the epitope peptide using our new cross-linker on magnetic particles (MPs) to generate PCIMPs. PCIMPs were formed with helical cavities that complement the PAP structure to adsorb specifically at the targeted position of PAP. PCIMPs^65–79 were found to have the best binding parameters to the PAP with K_d = 0.087 μM and B_max = 4.56 μM. Upon esterification of N-Boc-His-OH, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) was used to monitor the yield of the reaction and evaluate the activity of PAP/PCIMPs. The kinetic parameters of PAP/PCIMPs^65–79 were calculated as V_max = 3.0 μM s⁻¹, K_m = 5 × 10⁻² M, k_cat = 1.1 × 10^–1 s⁻¹, and k_cat/K_m = 2.2 M⁻¹ s⁻¹. In addition, PAP is bound tightly to PCIMPs to sustain its activity after four consecutive cycles.

Beyond liquid biopsy: Toward non-invasive assays for distanced cancer diagnostics in pandemics

Liquid biopsy technologies have seen a significant improvement in the last decade, offering the possibility of reliable analysis and diagnosis from several biological fluids. The use of these technologies can overcome the limits of standard clinical methods, related to invasiveness and poor patient compliance. Along with this there are now mature examples of lab-on-chips (LOC) which are available and could be an emerging and breakthrough technology for the present and near-future clinical demands that provide sample treatment, reagent addition and analysis in a sample-in/answer-out approach. The possibility of combining non-invasive liquid biopsy and LOC technologies could greatly assist in the current need for minimizing exposure and transmission risks. The recent and ongoing pandemic outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, indeed, has heavily influenced all aspects of life worldwide. Ordinary tasks have been forced to switch from “in presence” to “distanced”, limiting the possibilities for a large number of activities in all fields of life outside of the home. Unfortunately, one of the settings in which physical distancing has assumed noteworthy consequences is the screening, diagnosis and follow-up of diseases.

In this review, we analyse biological fluids that are easily collected without the intervention of specialized personnel and the possibility that they may be used -or not-for innovative diagnostic assays. We consider their advantages and limitations, mainly due to stability and storage and their integration into Point-of-Care diagnostics, demonstrating that technologies in some cases are mature enough to meet current clinical needs.

Human serum albumin-imprinted polymers with high capacity and selectivity for abundant protein depletion

Depletion of human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant protein in human plasma, from serum/plasma is a prerequisite before their proteomic analysis. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using HSA as a template have been designed for this purpose, but suffer from a low sorption capacity and low selectivity. Here, a new HSA-imprinted polymer was synthesized using N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) as the main monomer; acrylamide (AAm), methacrylic acid (MAA), and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) as functional monomers; and oligoglutamic acid-based peptide crosslinker (PC) as a crosslinker at pH 5.5. When pH is adjusted to 7.4, the peptide chains in the polymer change from a helical conformation to an extended coil conformation, and the polymer swells. Consequently, the template protein is removed completely. When pH is adjusted back to 5.5, the peptide chains fold back precisely to the helical conformation. Both the size and shape of the imprint cavities are restored. Therefore, the polymer rebinds the template protein selectively. Highest imprinting factor (IF) was observed at pH 5.5 at which the polymer was synthesized. The IF increases with the increasing number of glutamic acid residues in the PCs because of their increased degree of helicity at pH 5.5. No improvement in imprinting effect was observed when using a peptide crosslinker containing both L- and D-glutamic acid residues and hence incapable of folding into α-helix, further confirming the key role of the pH-induced helix-coil transition of the peptide chains. The MIP synthesized here presents a much higher affinity to HSA than the nontemplate proteins. It could be used repeatedly without evident decrease in sorption capacity. Because of the mild eluting conditions, the secondary structure of the extracted HSA protein remains unchanged. Finally, the MIP was used to deplete HSA from human serum. Because of its high sorption capacity and high selectivity, HSA was depleted completely and selectively. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) using human serum albumin (HSA) as a template was synthesized using N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) as the main monomer; acrylamide (AAm), methacrylic acid (MAA), and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) as functional monomers; and oligoglutamic acid-based peptide crosslinker as a crosslinker. Because of the reversible and precise pH-induced helix-coil transition of the peptide chains, the template protein was removed facilely and completely under mild conditions. Simultaneously, a significant improvement in imprinting efficiency was obtained. The sorption capacity was as high as 648.05 mg/g and the imprinting factor was 7.9. Because of its high selectivity and high binding capacity, the MIP synthesized here is highly promising for the depletion of HSA, the most abundant protein in serum, which is a prerequisite for its proteomic analysis. For the first time, complete and selective depletion of HSA from human serum was achieved using a protein-imprinted polymer.

Molecularly Imprinted Synthetic Antibodies: From Chemical Design to Biomedical Applications

Billions of dollars are invested into the monoclonal antibody market every year to meet the increasing demand in clinical diagnosis and therapy. However, natural antibodies still suffer from poor stability and high cost, as well as ethical issues in animal experiments. Thus, developing antibody substitutes or mimics is a long-term goal for scientists. The molecular imprinting technique presents one of the most promising strategies for antibody mimicking. The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are also called "molecularly imprinted synthetic antibodies" (MISAs). The breakthroughs of key technologies and innovations in chemistry and material science in the last decades have led to the rapid development of MISAs, and their molecular affinity has become comparable to that of natural antibodies. Currently, MISAs are undergoing a revolutionary transformation of their applications, from initial adsorption and separation to the rising fields of biomedicine. Herein, the fundamental chemical design of MISAs is examined, and then current progress in biomedical applications is the focus. Meanwhile, the potential of MISAs as qualified substitutes or even to transcend the performance of natural antibodies is discussed from the perspective of frontier needs in biomedicines, to facilitate the rapid development of synthetic artificial antibodies.

Epitope Imprinting Technology: Progress, Applications, and Perspectives toward Artificial Antibodies

Epitope imprinting is a promising tool to generate antibody-like specific recognition sites. Recently, because of the ease of obtaining templates, the flexibility in selecting monomers, their resistance to harsh environments, and the high specificity toward targets, epitope-imprinted materials have attracted much attention in various fields, such as bioanalysis, clinical therapy, and pharmacy. Here, the discussion is focused on the current representative epitope imprinting technologies, including epitope bulk imprinting and epitope surface imprinting. Moreover, the application of epitope-imprinted materials to the recognition of peptides, proteins, and cells is reviewed. Finally, the remaining challenges arising from the intrinsic properties of epitope imprinting are discussed, and future development in the field is prospected.

Plasma/serum proteomics: depletion strategies for reducing high-abundance proteins for biomarker discovery

Plasma and serum are widely used for proteomics-based biomarker discovery. However, analysis of these biofluids is highly challenging due to the complexity and wide dynamic range of their proteomes. Notably, highly abundant proteins tend to obscure the detection of potential biomarkers that are usually of lower concentrations. Among the strategies to resolve this problem are: depletion of high-abundance proteins, enrichment of low abundant proteins of interest and prefractionation. In this review, we focus on current and emerging depletion techniques used to enhance the detection and identification of the less abundant proteins in plasma and serum. We discuss the applications and contributions of these methods to proteomics analysis of plasma and serum alongside their limitations and future perspectives.

Supramolecular Polymeric Assemblies for the Selective Depletion of Abundant Acidic Proteins in Serum

The analysis of low-level protein biomarkers in serum is precluded by the presence of other highly abundant serum proteins. Hence, the preliminary removal of serum albumin along with other abundant proteins in serum (i.e., immunoglobulins, transferrin, haptoglobin, α-2-macroglobulin, and apolipoproteins) is often a requirement prior to any biomarker analysis. In this work, we take advantage of the low isoelectric points (pI's) of these highly abundant proteins to selectively deplete them from serum by extraction using functionalized amphiphilic polymeric nanoassemblies. The selectivity of extraction is dependent on the pI of the protein and the extraction pH, which holds true even for extremely complex protein mixtures like serum. High extraction capacity is achieved by optimizing the extraction conditions and is found to be comparable to currently available methods for depletion. Depletion of these abundant acidic proteins allows for the enhanced detection of higher pI proteins and enables a 3 orders of magnitude increase in detection sensitivity for a putative cancer biomarker, demonstrating the utility of these polymeric assemblies for enhancing the analysis of the serum proteome.

Rapid Complexation of Aptamers by Their Specific Antidotes

Nucleic acid ligands, aptamers, harbor the unique characteristics of small molecules and antibodies. The specificity and high affinity of aptamers enable their binding to different targets, such as small molecules, proteins, or cells. Chemical modifications of aptamers allow increased bioavailability. A further great benefit of aptamers is the antidote (AD)-mediated controllability of their effect. In this study, the AD-mediated complexation and neutralization of the thrombin binding aptamer NU172 and Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) binding R10-60 aptamer were determined. Thereby, the required time for the generation of aptamer/AD-complexes was analyzed at 37 °C in human serum using gel electrophoresis. Afterwards, the blocking of aptamers’ effects was analyzed by determining the activated clotting time (ACT) in the case of the NU172 aptamer, or the expression of immune activation related genes IFN-1β, IL-6, CXCL-10, and IL-1β in the case of the R10-60 aptamer. Gel electrophoresis analyses demonstrated the rapid complexation of the NU172 and R10-60 aptamers by complementary AD binding after just 2 min of incubation in human serum. A rapid neutralization of anticoagulant activity of NU172 was also demonstrated in fresh human whole blood 5 min after addition of AD. Furthermore, the TLR9-mediated activation of PMDC05 cells was interrupted after the addition of the R10-60 AD. Using these two different aptamers, the rapid antagonizability of the aptamers was demonstrated in different environments; whole blood containing numerous proteins, cells, and different small molecules, serum, or cell culture media. Thus, nucleic acid ADs are promising molecules, which offer several possibilities for different in vivo applications, such as antagonizing aptamer-based drugs, immobilization, or delivery of oligonucleotides to defined locations.

Molecularly imprinted polymers for separating and sensing of macromolecular compounds and microorganisms

The present review article focuses on gathering, summarizing, and critically evaluating the results of the last decade on separating and sensing macromolecular compounds and microorganisms with the use of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) synthetic receptors. Macromolecules play an important role in biology and are termed that way to contrast them from micromolecules. The former are large and complex molecules with relatively high molecular weights. The article mainly considers chemical sensing of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs), proteins and protein fragments as well as sugars and oligosaccharides. Moreover, it briefly discusses fabrication of chemosensors for determination of bacteria and viruses that can ultimately be considered as extremely large macromolecules.

Liquid phase based separation systems for depletion, prefractionation, and enrichment of proteins in biological fluids and matrices for in-depth proteomics analysis-An update covering the period 2011-2014

This review article expands on the previous one (S. Selvaraju and Z. El Rassi, Electrophoresis 2012, 33, 74-88) by reviewing pertinent literature in the period extending from early 2011 to present. As the previous review article, the present one is concerned with proteomic sample preparation (e.g., depletion of high-abundance proteins, reduction of the protein dynamic concentration range, enrichment of a particular subproteome), and the subsequent chromatographic and/or electrophoretic prefractionation prior to peptide separation and identification by LC-MS/MS. This review article, however, is distinguished from its earlier version by expanding on capturing/enriching subphosphoproteomes by immobilized metal affinity chromatography and metal oxide affinity chromatography. Seventy-seven papers published in the period extending from mid-2011 to the present have been reviewed. By no means this review article is exhaustive, given the fact that its aim is to give a concise treatment of the latest developments in the field.

Self-oriented nanoparticles for site-selective immunoglobulin G recognition via epitope imprinting approach

Molecular imprinting is a polymerization technique that provides synthetic analogs for template molecules. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have gained much attention due to their unique properties such as selectivity and specificity for target molecules. In this study, we focused on the development of polymeric materials with molecular recognition ability, so molecular imprinting was combined with miniemulsion polymerization to synthesize self-orienting nanoparticles through the use of an epitope imprinting approach. Thus, L-lysine imprinted nanoparticles (LMIP) were synthesized via miniemulsion polymerization technique. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) was then bound to the cavities that specifically formed for L-lysine molecules that are typically found at the C-terminus of the Fc region of antibody molecules. The resulting nanoparticles makes it possible to minimize the nonspecific interaction between monomer and template molecules. In addition, the orientation of the entire IgG molecule was controlled, and random imprinting of the IgG was prevented. The optimum conditions were determined for IgG recognition using the imprinted nanoparticles. The selectivity of the nanoparticles against IgG molecules was also evaluated using albumin and hemoglobin as competitor molecules. In order to show the self-orientation capability of imprinted nanoparticles, human serum albumin (HSA) adsorption onto both the plain nanoparticles and immobilized nanoparticles by anti-human serum albumin antibody (anti-HSA antibody) was also carried out. Due to anti-HSA antibody immobilization on the imprinted nanoparticles, the adsorption capability of nanoparticles against HSA molecules vigorously enhanced. It is proved that the oriented immobilization of antibodies was appropriately succeeded.

Identification of N-glycosylation in hepatocellular carcinoma patients' serum with a comparative proteomic approach

Aim

This study is to explore the different expressions of serum N-glycoproteins and glycosylation sites between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and healthy controls.

Method

We combined high abundant proteins depletion and hydrophilic affinity method to enrich the glycoproteins. Through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), we extensively surveyed different expressions of glycosylation sites and glycoproteins between the two groups.

Result

This approach identified 152 glycosylation sites and 54 glycoproteins expressed differently between HCC patients and healthy controls. With the absolute values of Pearson coefficients of at least 0.8, eight proteins were identified significantly up or down regulated in HCC serum. Those proteins are supposed to be involved in several biological processes, cellular components and molecular functions of hepatocarcinogenesis. Several of them had been reported abnormally regulated in several kinds of malignant tumors, and may be promising biomarkers of HCC.

Conclusion

Our work provides a systematic and quantitative method of glycoproteomics and demonstrates some key changes in clinical HCC serum. These proteomic signatures may help to unveil the underlying mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis and may be useful for the exploration of candidate biomarkers.