“Monoclonal-type” plastic antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Parisi, Ortensia Ilaria; Dattilo, Marco; Patitucci, Francesco; Malivindi, Rocco; Pezzi, Vincenzo; Perrotta, Ida; Ruffo, Mariarosa; Amone, Fabio; Puoci, Francesco

Our idea is focused on the development of “monoclonal-type” plastic antibodies based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) able to selectively bind a portion of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to block its function and, thus, the infection process. Molecular Imprinting, indeed, represents a very promising and attractive technology for the synthesis of MIPs characterized by specific recognition abilities for a target molecule. Given these characteristics, MIPs can be considered tailor-made synthetic antibodies obtained by a templating process. In the present study, the developed imprinted polymeric nanoparticles were characterized in terms of particles size and distribution by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and the imprinting effect and selectivity were investigated by performing binding experiments using the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the novel coronavirus and the RBD of SARS-CoV spike protein, respectively. Finally, the hemocompatibility of the prepared MIP-based plastic antibodies was also evaluated.