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Nowadays, there is growing interest regarding the use of metal Nanoshells as targeted agents of Nano-photo thermal cancer therapy. This study was aimed at synthesis the folic acid (FA)-conjugated with silica @gold core-shell nanoparticles (FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs) for improving the treatment of melanoma cancer cells. The characterization data showed that the FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs is spherical in shape and its size is ∼73.7 nm. The intracellular uptake of FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs into melanoma cells (A375 ) was measured through the inductively coupled plasma, (∼47.7%). The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles was investigated on A375 and HDF (Human dermal fibroblast) cell lines. Cytotoxicity results indicated that there is no significant cytotoxicity in HDF cell lines treated with nanoparticles. MTT and flow cytometry results showed that the viability of A375 cells treated by SiO 2 @Au and FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs was decreased significantly to about 31% and 16% respectively. The higher toxicity of cancer cells was obtained for the cells exposed to 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser after incubation with FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs rather than the non-targeted SiO 2 @AuNPs. Furthermore, about 64% more cell death was observed for A-375 cells using both photothermal therapy and treatment with FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs compared to photothermal therapy. Additionally, the majority of the cell deaths were related to the apoptosis process, not necrosis. It can be concluded that FA-SiO 2 @AuNPs was an effective targeting agent for photothermal therapy in the treatment of melanoma.

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.