NIR triggered glycosylated gold nanoshell as a photothermal agent on melanoma cancer cells

Abstract

Nowadays, gold nanoshells are used in targeted nano photothermal cancer therapy. This study surveyed the application of gold nanoshell (GNs) to thermal ablative therapy for melanoma cancer cells and it takes advantage of the near infrared absorption of gold nanoshells. The synthesis and characterization of glycosylated gold nanoshells (GGNs) were done. The cytotoxicity and photothermal effects of GNs on melanoma cells were evaluated using MTT assay and flow cytometry. The characterization data showed that GGNs are spherical, with a hydrodynamic size of 46.7 nm. Results suggest that the cellular uptake of GGNs was about 78%. Viability assays showed no significant toxicity at low concentrations of GNs. The higher heating rate and toxicity of cancer cells were obtained for the cells exposed to 808 nm NIR laser after incubation with GGNs rather than the GNs. The viability of these cells has dramatically decreased by 29%. Furthermore, 61% more cell lethality was achieved for A375 cells using combined photothermal therapy and treatment with GGNs in comparison to NIR radiation alone. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the synthesized gold/silica core-shell nanoparticles conjugated with glucosamine have high potentials to be considered as an efficient metal-nanoshell in the process of targeted cancer photothermal therapy.

Keywords:

• Cellular uptake
• gold nanoshells
• glucosamine
• melanoma cancer
• NIR
• photothermal therapy

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

This study was adapted from an MSc thesis written by Samira Nouri. We thank Mr Davoodabadi for making his laser equipment available to us and Ms Sara Mayahi along with Ms Zahra Balavandi for their precious guidelines in the cell culture field, and all of the bodies that helped us to conduct this investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

We appreciate the financial support from the Research Council of Iran University of Medical Sciences.