Block
copolymer micelles have received increasing attention in
the last decades, in particular for their appealing properties in
nanomedicine. However, systematic investigations of the interaction
between polymeric micelles and immune cells are still rare. Therefore,
broader studies comparing the structural effects remain inevitable
for a comprehensive understanding of the immune response and for the
design of efficient, nonimmunogenic delivery systems. Here, we present
novel block copolymer micelles with the same hydrophobic core, based
on a copolymer of BA and VDM, and various hydrophilic shells ranging
from common PEG derivatives to morpholine-based materials. The influence
of these shells on innate immune responses was studied in detail.
In addition, we investigated the impact of micelle stability by varying
the cross-linking density in the micellar core. Surprisingly, whereas
different shells had only a minor impact on immune response, micelles
with reduced cross-linking density considerably enhanced the release
of cytokines from isolated human monocytes. Moreover, the uptake of
non-cross-linked micelles by monocytes was significantly higher as
compared to cross-linked materials. Our study emphasizes the importance
of the micellar stability on the interaction with the immune system,
which is the key for any stealth properties in vivo. Polymers based
on morpholines result in a similar low response as the PEG derivative
and may represent an interesting alternative to the common PEGylation.