Ni2+-BSA Directional Coordination-Assisted Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Microspheres with Enhanced Specific Rebinding to Target Proteins

Fabricating Ultrathin Imprinting Layer for Fast Capture of Valsartan via a Metal Affinity-Oriented Surface Imprinting Method

Rapid separation and enrichment of targets in biological matrixes are of significant interest in multiple life sciences disciplines. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have vital applications in extraction and sample cleanup owing to their excellent specificity and selectivity. However, the low mass transfer rate, caused by the heterogeneity of imprinted cavities in polymer networks and strong driving forces, significantly limits its application in high-throughput analysis. Herein, one novel metal affinity-oriented surface imprinting method was proposed to fabricate an MIP with an ultrathin imprinting layer. MIPs were prepared by immobilized template molecules on magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) with metal ions as bridges via coordination, and then polymerization was done. Under the optimized conditions, the thickness of the imprinting layer was merely 1 nm, and the adsorption toward VAL well matched the Langmuir model. Moreover, it took just 5 min to achieve adsorption equilibrium significantly faster than other reported MIPs toward VAL. Adsorption capacity still can reach 25.3 mg/g ascribed to the high imprinting efficiency of the method (the imprinting factor was as high as 5). All evidence proved that recognition sites were all external cavities and were evenly distributed on the surface of the NPs. The obtained MIP NPs exhibited excellent selectivity and specificity toward VAL, with good dispersibility and stability. Coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography, it was successfully used as a dispersed solid phase extraction material to determine VAL in serum. Average recoveries are over 90.0% with relative standard deviations less than 2.14% at three spiked levels (n = 3). All evidence testified that the MIPs fabricated with the proposed method showed a fast trans mass rate and a large rebinding capacity. The method can potentially use high-throughput separation and enrichment of target molecules in batch samples to meet practical applications.

Selective determination of an ovarian cancer biomarker at low concentrations with surface imprinted nanotube based chemosensor

In this study, an electrochemical chemosensor that utilizes a conductive polymer-based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) surface for rapid and reliable determination of CA125 was devised. A novel method has been applied to fabricate CA125 imprinted polypyrrole nanotubes (MI-PPy NT) via vapor deposition polymerization (VDP) as a recognition element for highly selective and sensitive determination of CA125. The chemosensor was prepared by immobilizing MI-PPy NT onto screen-printed gold electrodes (Au-SPE) and the performance of the sensor was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in terms of selectivity, sensitivity, linear dynamic concentration range (LDR) and limit of detection (LOD). The MI-PPy NT@Au-SPE sensor exhibited high sensitivity (68.57 μA per decade) to the CA125 concentration ranging from 0.1 U mL-1 to 100 U mL-1 at an LOD of 0.4 U mL-1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9922. The developed chemosensors with their novel design combined with a facile fabrication method, prove to be promising as future state-of-the-art biosensors.

Recent Advances in Molecular Imprinting for Proteins on Magnetic Microspheres

The separation of proteins in biological samples plays an essential role in the development of disease detection, drug discovery, and biological analysis. Protein imprinted polymers (PIPs) serve as a tool to capture target proteins specifically and selectively from complex media for separation purposes. Whereas conventional molecularly imprinted polymer is time-consuming in terms of incubation studies and solvent removal, magnetic particles are introduced using their magnetic properties for sedimentation and separation, resulting in saving extraction and centrifugation steps. Magnetic protein imprinted polymers (MPIPs), which combine molecularly imprinting materials with magnetic properties, have emerged as a new area of research hotspot. This review provides an overview of MPIPs for proteins, including synthesis, preparation strategies, and applications. Moreover, it also looks forward to the future directions for research in this emerging field.

Preparation of lysozyme-imprinted mesoporous Zr-based metal-organic frameworks with remarkable specific recognition

The development of high-performance protein-imprinted materials remains challenging due to defects concerning high mass transfer resistance and non-specific binding, which are crucial for protein purification and enrichment. In this paper, lysozyme-imprinted mesoporous Zr-based MOF (mesoUiO-66-NH2@MIPs) with specific and selective recognition of lysozyme (Lyz) were prepared by surface imprinting technology. In particular, the excellent hydrophilicity mesoporous MOFs (mesoUiO-66-NH2) with a pore size of 10 nm was prepared as a carrier for Lyz immobilization by an auxiliary modulation strategy to regulate the microporous structure of UiO-66-NH2 with the propionic acid solution, enabling massive loading of the macromolecular protein Lyz. The mesoUiO-66-NH2@MIPs reached a maximum saturation adsorption of 206.54 mg g-1 on Lyz in 20 min at 25 °C with an imprinting factor of 2.57 and selection factors of 2.02, 2.34, and 2.45 for cytochrome c (Cyt c), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine hemoglobin (BHb), respectively. More importantly, the mesoUiO-66-NH2@MIPs could specifically recognize Lyz from the mixed protein system. The adsorption capacity of Lyz could still reach 78.55% after 5 cycles with good cyclic regeneration performance. This provides a new research option for developing and applying novel porous MOF in biomolecule imprinting technology and the specific separation of biomolecules.

Sequentially Controlled Recognition of Different Proteins Using Programmable Protein Imprinted Nanospheres

Although protein imprinted materials with multiple templates are developed to selectively separate different proteins, it is difficult to achieve the programmed adsorption and separation of different proteins using one material, because the available protein imprinted materials are constructed through irreversible crosslinking and their structures are unprogrammable and non-reconstructive. Herein, a novel nanosphere (MS@PTL-g-PNIPAM) is designed, which not only is temperature and pH responsive but also can dynamically reversibly crosslink/de-crosslink under ultraviolet light of different wavelengths. With the help of the dynamically reversible photo-crosslinking, the nanospheres can be repeatedly programmed into protein imprinted nanospheres toward different target proteins. Moreover, the prepared imprinted nanospheres can easily achieve the controlled rebinding and release of target proteins, benefiting from the introduced temperature- and pH-responsive moieties. As a consequence, this study realizes the specific separation of different target proteins from protein mixture and the real bovine blood sequentially by programming one material. It is resource saving, time saving, recyclable, and it will provide convenience for protein imprinted materials to use in the blood purification, drug delivery, and virus detection.

Ring -opening of polythiolactones to construct protein-imprinted nanospheres with high recognition and regulation capabilities

Developing and preparing novel protein-imprinted nanomaterials with high recognition ability remains challenging because it is difficult to controllably and orderly design and arrange functional groups on the imprinted polymer layers of protein-imprinted nanomaterials to improve their protein identification. Herein, we present a new technology using rationally designed polythiolactone-decorated magnetic nanospheres as the precursor of multifunctionalized imprinted materials. Moreover, the strategy of ring-opening the polythiolactione layers using primary amines with terminal alcohols, acids and pyrrolidines introduces abundant recognition sites, which enhance the recognition for template proteins through multiple hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interactions. Thiols generated in situ by the ring-opening reaction provide sufficient crosslinking sites proximate to each recognition site for the formation of imprinting cavities, endowing the imprinted nanospheres with promising regulation capabilities. Based on the rational design, the imprinted nanospheres can be prepared conveniently and present tunable rebinding capacity and specificity for bovine serum albumin (BSA). The maximum saturated rebinding capacity of imprinted materials for BSA is up to 285 ± 15 mg g^-1 and the highest imprinting factor reaches 5.79. The simple and versatile strategy demonstrated in this study shows promise for the design of other protein-imprinted materials with high recognition ability.

Recent advances in protein-imprinted polymers: synthesis, applications and challenges

The molecular imprinting technique (MIT), also described as the "lock to key" method, has been demonstrated as an effective tool for the creation of synthetic polymers with antibody-like sites to specifically recognize target molecules. To date, most successful molecular imprinting researches were limited to small molecules (<1500 Da); biomacromolecule (especially protein) imprinting remains a serious challenge due to their large size, chemical and structural complexity, and environmental instability. Nevertheless, protein imprinting has achieved some significant breakthroughs in imprinting methods and applications over the past decade. Some special protein-imprinted materials with outstanding properties have been developed and exhibited excellent potential in several advanced fields such as separation and purification, proteomics, biomarker detection, bioimaging and therapy. In this review, we critically and comprehensively surveyed the recent advances in protein imprinting, particularly emphasizing the significant progress in imprinting methods and highlighted applications. Finally, we summarize the major challenges remaining in protein imprinting and propose its development direction in the near future.

Application progress of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers chemical sensors in the detection of biomarkers

Specific recognition and highly sensitive detection of biomarkers play an essential role in identification, early diagnosis and prevention of many diseases. Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) have been widely used to capture biomimetic receptors for targets in various complex matrices due to their superior recognition ability, structural stability, and rapid separation characteristics, which overcome the existing deficiencies of traditional recognition elements such as antibodies, aptamers. The integration of MMIPs as recognition elements with chemical sensors opens new opportunities for the development of advanced analytical devices with improved selectivity and sensitivity, shorter analysis time, and lower cost. Recently, MMIPs-chemical sensors (MMIPs-CS) have made significant progress in detection, but many challenges and development spaces remain. Therefore, this review focuses on the research progress of the sensor based on biomarker detection and introduces the surface modification of the magnetic support material used to prepare high selective MMIPs, as well as the selective extraction of target biomarkers by MMIPs from the complex biological sample matrix. Based on the understanding of optical sensors and electrochemical sensors, the applications of MMIPs-optical sensors (MMIPs-OS) and MMIPs-electrochemical sensors (MMIPs-ECS) for biomarker detection were reviewed and discussed in detail. Moreover, it provides an overview of the challenges in this research area and the potential strategies for the rational design of high-performance MMIPs-CS, accelerating the development of multifunctional MMIPs-CS.

Synthesis of surface protein-imprinted nanoparticles based on metal coordination and anchored carbon dots for enhanced fluorescence detection

Molecularly imprinted polymers endowed with photo-luminescent properties have attracted wide research interest in many fields such as biological analysis and diseases diagnosis. Herein, we illustrate a versatile method for the construction of surface protein-imprinted nanoparticles based on metal coordination and anchored carbon dots (CDs) for enhanced fluorescence detection of the target protein. As the fluorescent nanosupports for surface imprinting, CDs-attached SiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized via thiol-ene click chemistry. With histidine (His)-exposed protein as templates, imprinted nanoshells were formed over the nanosupports via copolymerization of a Cu²⁺-chelating monomer and an oligo (ethylene glycol) monomer, hence producing high-quality imprinted cavities because of both the relatively strong coordination and inhibited non-specific binding. Using lysozyme as a model His-exposed template, the imprinted nanoparticles showed fluorescence enhancement while binding the target protein, and exhibited significantly increased specific fluorescence response than the controls without the metal coordination. They achieved a high imprinting factor of 5.8 and a low limit of detection of 10.1 nM. Furthermore, such sensors were applied to determine lysozyme in diluted chicken egg-white samples with satisfactory recoveries at three spiking levels ranging from 97.9 to 101.4%. Human serum albumin was also used as another template protein for preliminary confirming the generality of the presented strategy.

Pyrrolidinyl ligand motif-assisted bovine serum albumin molecularly imprinted polymers with high specificity

Ideal binding ligands for anchoring proteins are essential for the design and assembly of desirable molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). In this study, bovine serum albumin-MIPs (BSA-MIPs) were successfully prepared by orchestrating the involvement of orientation-controllable binding ligands via sequential thiol-ene click and thiol-ene-amine conjugation. We showed that the optimal thiol-ene-amine conjugates and binding ligands were decisive in determining the rebinding capacity and selectivity. The pyrrolidinyl MIPs exhibited the best adsorption capacity of 352 ± 22 mg/g and a superior imprinting factor of 4.72 among MIPs with various binding ligands. These favourable results were further studied by computational simulation and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Molecular docking revealed the preferential binding free energy and H-bonds between BSA residues and the thiol-ene-amine conjugates. Meanwhile, the pyrrolidinyl ligand motif enabled entropy-favourable affinity to be achieved via hydrophobic effects with the BSA template by ITC thermodynamics. Because of these favourable bindings, the MIPs exhibited excellent adsorption specificity to BSA over competing proteins. The proof-of-concept of MIPs with orientation-controllable conjugates and proven binding ligands for target proteins demonstrates that this material is promising for use with a real biological sample.

Constructing High-Recognition Protein-Imprinted Materials Using "Specially Designed" Block Macromolecular Chains as Functional Monomers and Crosslinkers

The use of a macromolecularly functional monomer and crosslinker (MFM) to stabilize and imprint a template protein is a new method to construct high-recognition protein-imprinted materials. In this study, for the first time, a "specially designed" block MFM with both "functional capability" and "crosslinking capability" segments was synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization and used to fabricate bovine serum albumin (BSA)-imprinted microspheres (SiO₂@MPS@MIPs-MFM) by the surface imprinting strategy. Results from circular dichroic spectrum experiments reflected that the block MFM could maintain the natural form of BSA, whereas its corresponding and equivalent micromolecularly functional monomer (MIM) seriously destroyed the secondary structure of proteins. Batch rebinding experiments showed that the maximum adsorption capacity and imprinting factor of SiO₂@MPS@MIPs-MFM reached 314.9 mg g^-1 and 4.02, which were significantly superior to that of MIM-based imprinted materials. In addition, since the crosslinking capability segments in block MFM involved zwitterionic functional groups with a protein-repelling effect, SiO₂@MPS@MIPs-MFM showed better specific rebinding ability than the imprinted material prepared by MFM without this component. Besides, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images showed that the shell thickness of SiO₂@MPS@MIPs-MFM was approximately 15 nm, and such a thin imprinted layer ensured its rapid adsorption equilibrium (120 min). As a result, SiO₂@MPS@MIPs-MFM revealed fantastic selectivity and recognition ability in a mixed protein solution and could efficiently extract BSA from biological samples of bovine calf serum. The proposal of block MFM enriched the options and designability of monomers in protein imprinting technology, thereby laying a foundation for developing high-performance protein-imprinted materials.

Molecularly imprinted polypyrrole nanotubes based electrochemical sensor for glyphosate detection

An electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted polypyrrole nanotubes (MIPNs) has been developed for the detection of glyphosate (Gly) with high sensitivity and specificity. Herein, the MIPNs are prepared by imprinting Gly sites on the surface of polypyrrole (PPy) nanotubes. The synthesized MIPNs have high electrical conductivity and exhibit rapid adsorption rate, enhanced affinity and specificity to Gly. An electrochemical sensor for Gly detection is fabricated by assembling MIPNs-modified screen-printed electrodes with a 3D-printed electrode holder, which is highly portable and suitable for real-time detection. The results demonstrate that the MIPNs-based electrochemical sensor for Gly exhibits a wide detection range of 2.5-350 ng/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.94 ng/mL. Besides, the Gly sensor possessed good stability, reproducibility, and excellent selectivity against other interferents. The practicability of the sensor is verified by detecting Gly in orange juice and rice beverages, indicating that the sensor is suitable for monitoring pesticides in actual food and environmental samples.

Cobalt-Iron Double Ion-Bovine Serum Albumin Chelation-Assisted Thermo-Sensitive Surface-Imprinted Nanocage with High Specificity

To develop multifunctional protein imprinted materials, a cobalt-iron double ion-BSA directional chelation-assisted thermo-sensitive surface-imprinted hollow nanocage (Co-Fe@CBMA-MIPs) with excellent specificity is developed on the surface of ZIF-67@Co-Fe in this study by synergizing the advantages of surface imprinting, metal ion chelation, anti-protein adsorption segments, and thermo-sensitive components. Beyond previous research, well-designed multifunctional protein-imprinted materials possess high binding capacity, fast adsorption kinetics, and outstanding selectivity. When the adsorption is carried out at 32 °C, the adsorption capacity of Co-Fe@CBMA-MIPs for BSA reaches 520.35 mg/g within 50 min. The imprinting factor is 8.55. The selectivity factors of Co-Fe@CBMA-MIPs for HSA, Bhb, OVA, and Lyz are 3.72, 6.09, 4.10, and 8.41, respectively. More significantly, Co-Fe@CBMA-MIPs could specifically recognize BSA from mixed proteins and actual samples and exhibit excellent repeated use stability. Based on the above advantages, the development of this research provides an effective means to improve the recognition specificity of molecularly imprinted polymers.

Fabrication of Raspberry-like Cytochrome C Surface-Imprinted Nanoparticles Based on MOF Composites for High-Performance Protein Separation

The development of high-performance protein-imprinted materials is vital to meet the requirements of proteomics research but remains a challenge. Herein, a new type of raspberry-like cytochrome C-imprinted nanoparticle was first designed and fabricated via surface imprinting technology combined with a template immobilization strategy. In particular, the state-of-the-art metal-organic framework (MOF)/carbon nanoparticle (CN) composites were selected as protein immobilization carriers for two advantages: (1) the composites reflected the intrinsic characteristics of MOFs including flexible design, facile preparation, and extensive interactions with proteins and (2) the utilization of composites also overcame the issue associated with the severe agglomeration of individual MOFs during the post-use process. Therefore, the as-prepared composites exhibited a regular raspberry-like shape with good dispersion (polydispersity index (PDI) < 0.25), high specific surface area (551.4 m² g^-1), and outstanding cytochrome C immobilization capacity (900 mg g^-1). Furthermore, a zwitterionic monomer was chosen to participate in the synthesis of an imprinting layer to reduce the nonspecific binding with proteins. As a result, the unique design presented here in both the protein immobilization carrier and the selected polymer composition endowed the imprinted material (noted as CN@UIO-66@MIPs) with the excellent ability for cytochrome C enrichment with extremely high recognition ability (imprinting factor (IF) = 6.1), rapid adsorption equilibrium time (40 min), and large adsorption capacity (815 mg g^-1). Furthermore, encouraged by the experimental results, we successfully used CN@UIO-66@MIPs to specifically capture cytochrome C in mixed protein solutions and biological samples, which proved them to be a potential candidate for protein separation and purification.

A sandwich sensor based on imprinted polymers and aptamers for highly specific double recognition of viruses

Highly selective and highly efficient identification of large viruses has been a major obstacle in the field of virus detection. In this work, a novel sandwich resonance light scattering sensor was designed based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and aptamers for the first time. One of the recognition probes was obtained by molecular imprinting using environmentally friendly carbon spheres as carriers and the other by modification of the aptamer that can specifically recognize hepatitis B virus (HBV) on the surface of silicon spheres. In the presence of both probes, an MIP-HBV-aptamer sandwich structure was formed continuously in the system with the increase in HBV concentration, resulting in a strong resonance light scattering response. Finally, satisfactory selectivity and sensitivity were obtained, and the imprinting factor was as high as 7.56, which was higher than that reported in previous works of viral molecular imprinting sensor. In addition, it is of great significance to solve the problem of insufficient selectivity of traditional detection methods for macromolecular targets.

Construction of shape memorable imprinted cavities for protein recognition using oligo-l-lysine-based peptide crosslinker

Protein-imprinted polymers are artificial receptors capable of recognizing protein. They are highly promising for applications in important bio-related areas, however, their development was severely retarded by two problems: difficult template removal and low imprinting efficiency. The two problems could be overcome by constructing shape-memorable imprinted cavities using peptide crosslinker. Here a new oligo-l-lysine-based peptide crosslinker was designed and synthesized. A novel cytochrome c (Cyt C)-imprinted polymer was synthesized using the new peptide crosslinker. When switching pH between 12 and 7.4, the peptide segments incorporated in the polymer underwent reversible helix-coil transition. Because of the precise folding of the peptide segments, the imprinted cavities in the polymer could be enlarged when lowering pH to 7.4 to release the template protein, but restore their original size and shape at pH 12 to recognize the template protein. Therefore complete template removal was achieved under mild conditions. Meanwhile the imprinting efficiency was improved significantly. Compared to polymer crosslinked with the commonly used crosslinker N, N-methylenebisacrylamide, the imprinting efficiency of the peptide-crosslinked polymer was increased by 15 times. The new imprinted polymer presented not only a high adsorption capacity (454.4 mgg^-1), a high imprinting factor (6.3), high selectivity towards Cyt C, and excellent reusability, but also could preserve the fragile secondary structure of the eluted protein, and therefore had high potential in bioseparation. As a demonstration, Cyt C added into fetal bovine serum was separated from the sample using the polymer via a simple adsorption-desorption cycle. The recovery rate was as high as 92.7%.

Preparation of Fe3O4@PMAA@Ni Microspheres towards the Efficient and Selective Enrichment of Histidine-Rich Proteins

Magnetic material is considered to as a major concern material for the enrichment of histidine-rich proteins (His-proteins) via metal-ion affinity. In this work, magnetic polymer microspheres with core-shell structure (Fe₃O₄@PMAA@Ni) were successfully prepared via reflux-precipitation polymerization followed by in situ reduction and growth of Ni²⁺. The obtained Ni nanofoams with flower-like structure and uniform pore size (3.34 nm) provided numerous binding sites for His-proteins. The adsorption performance of Fe₃O₄@PMAA@Ni microspheres for His-proteins was estimated via selectively separating bovine hemoglobin (BHb) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) from a matrix composed of BHb, BSA, and lysozyme (LYZ). The results indicated that Fe₃O₄@PMAA@Ni microspheres could efficiently and selectively separate His-proteins from the matrix, with a maximum adsorption capacity of ∼2660 mg/g for BHb. Moreover, Fe₃O₄@PMAA@Ni microspheres exhibited good stability and recyclability for BHb separation over seven cycles. Therefore, this work reported a novel and facile strategy to prepare core-shell Fe₃O₄@PMAA@Ni microspheres, which was promising for practical applications of His-protein separation and purification in proteomics.

Development of surface imprinted heterogeneous nitrogen-doped magnetic carbon nanotubes as promising materials for protein separation and purification

To promote the development of molecular imprinting technique in the separation and analysis of protein, novel bovine serum albumin (BSA) surface imprinted nitrogen-doped magnetic carbon nanotubes (N-MCNTs@MIPs) are developed by this paper. The imprinted materials are prepared by depositing polydopamine (PDA) on the surface of nitrogen-doped magnetic carbon nanotubes (N-MCNTs). N-MCNTs prepared by high temperature pyrolysis and chemical vapor deposition exhibit high specific surface area, positive hydrophilicity, abundant nitrogen functional groups and excellent magnetic properties. These characteristics are conducive to the increase of effective binding sites, the smooth development of the protein imprinting process in the aqueous phase, the improvement of the binding capacity and the simplification of the separation process. The amount of BSA adsorbing on the N-MCNTs@MIPs can reach 150.86 mg/g within 90 min. The imprinting factor (IF) is 1.43. The results of competitive adsorption and separation of fetal bovine serum showed that N-MCNTs@MIPs can specifically recognize BSA. The excellent reusability and separation ability for real sample prove that N-MCNTs@MIPs have the potential to be applied to the separation and purification of proteins in complex biological samples.

Carbon dots-embedded epitope imprinted polymer for targeted fluorescence imaging of cervical cancer via recognition of epidermal growth factor receptor

A carbon dots-embedded epitope imprinted polymer (C-MIP) was fabricated for targeted fluorescence imaging of cervical cancer by specifically recognizing the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The core-shell C-MIP was prepared by a reverse microemulsion polymerization method. This method used silica nanoparticles embedded with carbon dots as carriers, acrylamide as the main functional monomer, and N-terminal nonapeptides of EGFR modified by palmitic acid as templates. A series of characterizations (transmission electron microscope, dynamic light scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) prove the successful synthesis of C-MIP. The fluorescence of C-MIP is quenched by the epitopes of EGFR due to the specific recognition of epitopes of EGFR through their imprinted cavities (analytical excitation/emission wavelengths, 540 nm/610 nm). The linear range of fluorescence quenching is 2.0 to 15.0 μg mL^-1 and the determination limit is 0.73 μg mL^-1. The targeted imaging capabilities of C-MIP are demonstrated through in vitro and in vivo experiments. The laser confocal imaging results indicate that HeLa cells (over-expression EGFR) incubated with C-MIP show stronger fluorescence than that of MCF-7 cells (low-expression EGFR), revealing that C-MIP can target tumor cells overexpressing EGFR. The results of imaging experiments in tumor-bearing mice exhibit that C-MIP has a better imaging effect than C-NIP, which further proves the targeted imaging ability of C-MIP in vivo. Graphical abstract An oriented epitope imprinted polymer embedded with carbon dots was prepared for the determination of the epitopes of epidermal growth factor receptor and targeted fluorescence imaging of cervical cancer.