Background: Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes, early-stage melanomas can be treated effectively with surgery alone, but more advanced cancers often incurable. The incidence of melanoma malignancy in most countries has risen faster than any other cancer types. It was the first time which we evaluated the cytotoxic effects of zno and Ag/zno nano-composites (NP) on melanoma cell line, A375, viability.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, A375 cell line was grown in RPMI-1640 supplemented with 10% FBS, penicillin/streptomycin (100 U/ml, 100 µg/ml) at 37◦C in 5% CO2, then the effects of different concentrations of zno and Ag/zno nano-composites on melanoma cell were evaluated by MTT, clonogenic survival assays, and acridine orange/ ethidium bromide staining.

Results: Herein, we demonstrated that Zno and Ag/zno nano-composites showed similar effects on cytotoxicity of melanoma cancer cells. In a dose dependent manner, a significant cytotoxicity was observed with increasing of zno and Ag/zno. The inhibitory concentration 50% (IC50) values of the nano-composites for A375 cell line after 24 hrs were 7.24±1.55 and 15.93±1.73 µg/ml for zno and Ag/zno, respectively.

Conclusion: The results showed that zno and Ag/zno has ability to induce cytotoxicity in the human melanoma cancer cell line in lower micromolar concentrations. In conclusion, these findings may introduce a new view on the mode of action and possible application of new nano-composites in the cancer chemotherapy.