TABLE 2.

SCKs as Versatile Polymeric Nanostructures for Various Biomedical Applications

SCKs	Composition	Cargo	Applications	Remarks (Stimuli Responsiveness)	References
Gene vectors	PAEA128-b-PS40:	1. pDNA	1. Cancer	1. Bioreductively cleavable disulfide linkage between cSCKs and PNA: higher efficiency and lower toxicity than Lipofectamine or Arg9-PNA conjugates in Hela cells.	34 – 37
	1. cSCKs-S-S-PNA	2. PNA	2. Gene therapy (modulate incorrect splicing)	2. cSCKs/oligonucleotide, PNA, or pDNA complexes:
	2. cSCKs complexes: phosphorothioate-2′-O-methyl oligonucleotides, PNA or pDNA	3. Phosphorothioate, 2′-O-methyl oligonucleotides		a. N/P ratio of 6:1 gave the highest transfection.
	3. cSCKs complexes: The shell composition (primary amine, tertiary amine, and carboxylic acid group ratios):			b. Higher transfection, lower cytotoxicity, and lower materials used than most common transfection reagents.
	PAA- co-PAEDMA-b-PS			3. Increasing the proportion of tertiary relative to primary amine reduced the cytotoxicity and increased transfection efficiency.
	PAA- co-PAEA-b-PS
	PAEA-co-PAEDMA-b-PS
Chemotherapeutics	Thermosensitive:	Doxorubicin	Cancer	Tm of the core could be tuned (temperature)	38,39
	PAA-b-P(ODA-co-DA)
	pH-responsive:	Doxorubicin	Cancer	1. Higher Tg and Tm and aromatic styrene core (π–π-stacking): higher loading capacity and slower release rate.	38,39,48
	PAA-b-PS			2. Increasing PAA/PS ratio: smaller core volumes, lower loading capacity, and lower release rate and extent.
				3. Crosslinking: lower release rate.
				4. The release rate was higher at pH 5 vs. pH 7.4.
Antimicrobial	PAA-b-PS	Antimicrobial agents (Ag+ and SCCs)	Treatment of pulmonary and urinary tract infections	1. Drugs could be loaded into the shell or the core of the nanoparticles.	49
				2. Sustained release over several days.
				3. High antimicrobial activities against Gram-negative bacteria.
Templates for multifunctional SCKs	PAA104-b-PpHS41	Amino-terminated pyrazine (bifunctional fluorophore and crosslinker)	1. pH-sensors	1. Fluoresce and swell at high pH.	50
			2. In vivo imaging	2. Shrink and quenched at low pH.
			3. Fluorescence or confocal microscopy
Multifunctional	Folate-SCKs based on PAA93-b-PMA164	1. 64Cu (PET and radiotherapy)	1. In vivo tracking and imaging	1. Multifunctional nanotheranostics.	62
		2. Fluorescein thiosemicarbazide (fluorophore)	2. Cancer	2. Tumor accumulation (EPR).
			3. Theranostic applications	3. Specific uptake in vitro and in vivo (active targeting).