CD44 and melanoma: This study reports a proof-of-concept for assessing the in vitro and in vivo toxicity, and efficacy profile of a previously developed and partly characterized multifunctional hybrid nanoparticle system, developed for NIR-mediated PTT [15,35], in mice induced melanoma model upon inoculation with A375 human melanoma cells, which overexpress multiple receptors [36,37], including CD44 and epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors [38,39,40,41].