Hexagon Gold Nanoring-Mediated Combined Phototherapy for the Treatment of B16 Melanoma Cell Line

Cancer therapy has made use of plasmonic nanostructures for a long time. Platinum, gold, and silver are a few metals that can exhibit the SPR (surface plasmon resonance) phenomenon. In comparison to polymers and other metal nanoparticles, the SPR effect makes these nanostructures great PT (photothermal) agents for cancer treatment. In this study, we have synthesized hexagonally shaped gold nanorings (AuNRgs) with a 40 ± 10 nm diameter, which are applied as photothermal agents for treating melanoma. Results demonstrated that synthesized hexagon AuNRgs possess a great killing capacity against the B16 melanoma cell lines. Hexagon AuNRgs not only destroy cells via the PT effect but also enhance reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation to a great extent in the absence of any synthetic photosensitizer or near-infrared (NIR) dye. Hexagon AuNRgs showed an alteration in mitochondrial membrane potential with a significant green shift of the JC-1 dye. It was also observed that hexagon AuNRgs disrupted the blood vessels in the in-ovo CAM (chick chorioallantoic membrane) model. These findings support the utilization of hexagon AuNRgs as an anticancer agent against B16 melanoma.