Molecularly imprinted polymer composites in drug delivery

Abstract

Abstract The present chapter summarizes and critically discusses the recent progress made in the field of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) fabrication for the drug delivery purpose. In recent decades, designing of smart biomaterials for site-targeted therapy has been prevailing as a major challenge for cutting-edge nanotechnology and translational medicine. So far, several advanced delivery systems (DSs)—to mention only stimuli-responsive drug-releasing 4D-printed implants and image-guided sensor-like molecular types of machineries—have been aimed to solve pressing issues of modern pharmacology. Continually, these include early-stage theranostics of lifestyle diseases, well-tuned spatiotemporal drug release profile, minimization of side effects, and patient-specificity. From the outset of drug discovery-branched material sciences, scaling-up manufacture of polymer-based biomaterials, including MIPs, has led to devising and fabricating molecular biosensors, nanorobotics, and drug/cell-delivery systems. Owing to their well-established physicochemical and biomedical properties, the MIP DSs, such as plastic antibodies and multifunctionalized cargo-loaded nanocarriers, have already been evaluated in the location-specific delivery and gene therapy. The efficiency of these materials has been preclinically verified in animal models of infections, cancer, and diseases of cardiovascular, neurological, and immunological systems. MIP-based tissue scaffolds have also been used as wound repair agents in regenerative medicine. Future medicine, constantly emerging from high-resolution bioimaging and early diagnostics, based on pathology-indicating biomarkers, such as peptides, miRNAs, or exosomes, is expected to provide instant, precise, low-cost, and personalized healthcare. In this light, the MIP DSs, operating in a single-cell/molecule detection-release manner, have stemmed as an inevitable item of lab-on-chip sensors, incorporated in point-of-care tests and wearable devices.