Enrichment of carcinoembryonic antigen by epitope molecularly imprinted polymer based on cucurbituril host-guest interaction

Abstract

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a common tumor marker used to diagnose diseases. However, the use of molecularly imprinted polymer with whole proteins as templates or antibodies to identify and isolate CEA presents issues such as high prices and difficult removal of templates. Here, due to the specific binding of cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) to N-terminal phenylalanine, we prepared a novel oriented epitope molecularly imprinting polymer based on host-guest interaction (hg-MIP) for the identification and separation of CEA. The preparation of hg-MIP is facile and low-cost, with templates immobilized by corresponding molecular interaction and oriented imprinting by self-polymerization with four silylating reagents as functional monomers. The hg-MIP can be used for specific recognition of CEA with a high imprinting factor and high reusability. It can be successfully used for the detection of CEA in human serum.