title: Nanographene oxide-hyaluronic acid conjugate for photothermal ablation therapy of skin cancer.
abstract: Melanoma skin cancer is one of the most dangerous skin cancers and the main cause of skin-cancer-related mortality. Hyaluronic acid (HA) has been used as an effective transdermal delivery carrier of chemical drugs and biopharmaceuticals. In this work, a nanographene oxide-HA conjugate (NGO-HA) was synthesized for photothermal ablation therapy of melanoma skin cancer using a near-infrared (NIR) laser. Confocal microscopy and ex vivo bioimaging clearly visualized the remarkable transdermal delivery of NGO-HA to tumor tissues in the skin of mice, which might be ascribed to highly expressed HA receptors and relatively leaky structures around tumor tissues, enabling the enhanced permeation and retention of nanoparticles. The NIR irradiation resulted in complete ablation of tumor tissues with no recurrence of tumorigenesis. The antitumor effect was confirmed by ELISA for caspase-3 activity and histological and immunohistochemical analyses with TUNEL assay for tumor apoptosis. Taken together, we could confirm the feasibility of transdermal NGO-HA for photothermal ablation therapy of melanoma skin cancers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Sang
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: DJung
authors.forename: Won Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Dong Kyung
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Song Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Beack
authors.forename: Do Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Keum
authors.forename: Ki Su
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seok Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Sei Kwang
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010789:Phototherapy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D010087:Oxides; D006108:Graphite; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid