Background: Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer type with a high lethality rate due to active metastasis. Among the risk factors for its development is exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) and phenotypical characteristics such as clear skin and eyes. Given the difficulties of the conventional therapy, the high cost of the treatment and the low bioavailability of drugs, it is important to develop new therapeutic methods to circumvent this situation. Nanosystems such as micelles, liposomes and nanoparticles present advantages when compared to conventional treatments.
Objective: The objective of this paper is to carry out a literature review based on articles that dealt with the use of siRNA-loaded nanosystems for the treatment of melanoma, with trials carried out in vivo to assess tumor size.
Methods: The search was conducted in the Web of Science and PubMed databases considering the last 5 years, that is, the period between January 2017 to December 2021. The "SiRNA and Drug Delivery Systems and Melanoma" keywords were used in both databases, and the articles were analyzed using the inclusion and exclusion criteria established for this paper.
Results: The results obtained indicated that using siRNA transported via nanosystems was capable of silencing the BRAF tumor genes and of reducing tumor size and weight, not presenting in vitro and/or in vivo toxicity.
Conclusion: Such being the case, the development of these systems becomes a non-invasive and promising option for the treatment of melanoma.
Keywords: Liposomes; Melanoma; Micelles; Nanoparticle; Treatment; siRNA.
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