Temozolomide associated to gold nanoparticles promoted a synergic effect and apoptosis when exposed to melanoma cells

Temozolomide (TMZ) is prescribed primarily because of its known ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, being a potentially chemotherapic drug for cancer treatment. However, it has dose-limiting hemotoxicity and rapid hydrolysis, which limits its anti-tumor efficacy. On the other hand, recent studies have shown that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with their biocompatibility and cytotoxic potential in tumor cells can be combined with chemotherapy leading to an improvement in the existing treatment. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of TMZ associated with GNPs (T-GNPs) on B16F10 cells. Different GNPs were successfully synthetized, and the results showed that there was an electrostatic interaction between TMZ and GNPs, not changing their physicochemical properties. TMZ associated with GNPs exposed on B16F10 cells presented a cytotoxic effect even more pronounced than free TMZ. In addition, different T-GNPs did not induced cytotoxic effect on non-tumor cells (NIH3T3 and red blood cells). A synergism between TMZ and GNPs was observed, inducing B16F10 cell death by apoptosis.