MIPs for the treatment of Crohn’s disease
Claudia Herrera León, a contract faculty member since 2025, specializes in molecular imprinting and, more specifically, in molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) within the Enzymatic and Cellular Engineering (UTC-GEC) laboratory. Currently, her research focuses on the development of anti-TNF‑α MIPs for the oral treatment of Crohn’s disease.
After completing her PhD at UPJV in Amiens, she joined UTC as a postdoc in 2022. As part of a project funded by Sanofi, she developed MIPs designed to neutralize tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF‑α).
“Molecular imprinting is a molecular-scale moulding technique that allows for the creation of recognition sites specific to a target molecule within a polymer, resulting in what are known as molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). These materials have an affinity comparable to that of antibodies; this is why they are also called ‘synthetic antibodies. For my part, my work focuses primarily on therapeutic and diagnostic applications,” she explains.
Since 2026, thanks to the “Young Researchers” programme from the research department, she has been tackling Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect one or more segments of the digestive tract. This condition, driven by genetic and environmental factors as well as immune system dysfunction, primarily affects young people between the ages of 20 and 30. Its prevalence is steadily rising; for example, between 2015 and 2023, the average annual growth rate of patients covered by social security was 3.37%.
“TNF‑α is naturally secreted by the body in response to inflammation. Our goal, using MIPs, is to block the overproduction of TNF‑α, which causes inflammation. This is particularly important since this molecule is involved in a large number of inflammatory diseases. Currently, existing treatments for Crohn’s disease, based on monoclonal antibodies, are not only expensive but can only be administered intravenously. This is because monoclonal antibodies are too fragile and can be denatured by the acidic pH and degraded by digestive enzymes. Our goal is aim to use MIPs — which are more physically and chemically stable — to develop an alternative treatment that can be administered orally.”
The first step will be to study the behaviour of MIPs in artificial gastric environments, viz., those recreated in the laboratory — to verify whether they can withstand this highly acidic pH environment. Ultimately, the goal will be to “assess whether oral administration of MIPs will allow for the capture of TNF‑α in the intestines,” concludes Claudia Herrera León, who hopes to establish a sufficiently robust proof of concept to enable the development of industrial partnerships.
MSD
