Molecular imprinting and surface grafting of glycoprotein fragments in polymeric nanosystems: from cancer diagnosis to virus targeting
Capítulo de livro
Glycoproteins and glycans are widely found in eukaryotes, prokaryotes, archaea, and viruses. Many fundamental biological mechanisms, such as molecular recognition, signal transduction, cell adhesion, and immune response are regulated with the intervention of glycoproteins, glycans, and monosaccharides. Several diseases are a result of anomalous changes affecting the structure of these molecules or their abnormal expression. Therefore, glycoproteins, glycans, and monosaccharides are often considered biomarkers for diagnosis purposes and therapeutic agents in cancer treatment. The development of vaccines and antibodies for infection diseases also relies on these kinds of molecular structures. The mimic of glycoproteins or their molecular recognition with tailored synthetic polymers can be used to develop tools aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of different kinds of diseases, through sensing, imaging, controlled drug delivery, virus inhibition, and so on. This chapter describes the use of molecular imprinting techniques and grafting mechanisms with glycoproteins, glycans, and saccharides aiming at the development of such kinds of synthetic polymers. Due to their practical relevance, a special emphasis is given to systems involving sialic acid or derivatives, boronic acid-based polymers (e.g., with surface-oriented molecular imprinting of glycoproteins) and glycopolymers synthesis through grafting of saccharide moieties in polymer backbones or nano-surfaces (e.g., for the generation of macromolecules/surfaces with polyvalent interactions). Along the text, the use of “controlled” (or rather reversibly deactivated) radical polymerization is highlighted to show new opportunities arising in this field with these synthetic routes. Improved precision in the design of special molecular architectures, functionalization, hybridization, surface modification, and size control of macromolecular-based devices (e.g., nanofabrication) are some important goals in the development of tailored synthetic materials that can be achieved with controlled radical polymerization. Specific examples involving these special kinds of synthetic polymers with their application in cancer and virus targeting are provided.
