Sonodynamic Therapy Using Dacarbazine-Loaded AuSiO Nanoparticles for Melanoma Treatment: An In-Vitro Study on the B16F10 Murine Melanoma Cell Line.

The use of nanoparticles as a sonosensitizer in cancer sonodynamic therapy has been gaining attention because of their great advantages in drug delivery applications. By conjugating chemotherapy agents with nanoparticles, we can develop a drug delivery platform, control drug release and improve the outcome of treatments. The in-vitro study described here evaluates the combination of AuSiO nanoparticles and dacarbazine (DTIC@AuSiO) as a sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy of melanoma. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and flow cytometry assays revealed that the viability of B16F10 melanoma cells was significantly inhibited by the increase in apoptosis induction in treatment with DTIC@AuSiO nanoparticles under ultrasound exposure compared with treatment with the free DTIC or AuSiO nanoparticles. The sonosensitization activity of AuSiO nanoparticles and greater uptake of DTIC by tumor cells after loading in DTIC@AuSiO nanoparticles inhibited the proliferation of melanoma tumor cells effectively. In conclusion, the DTIC@AuSiO nanoparticles established in this study could represent a good drug delivery and sonosensitizer platform for use in melanoma sonodynamic therapy.