Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is considered a major ailment throughout
the world, and conventional therapies including chemo and combinational have suboptimal
responses with toxicity and adverse effects. The use of conventional methods
becomes challenging, especially when the tumor cells adapt resistance rapidly, which
further limits their use. Nanotherapeutics for HCC show their potential with minimal
toxicity and enhanced degree of targeted drug delivery, which has attracted researchers
across the world to explore the various benefits of nanotherapeutics. This chapter has
briefly covered the epidemiology and incidence of HCC, its causes, stages, different
ways to diagnose HCC, its pathology, and conventional treatment options. We have
explained various targeted nanotherapeutic preclinical approaches such as lipidic
nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, and liposomes for HCC. Surface-modified
nanoparticles and liposomes can actively target a wide array of overexpressed receptors
on the tumor surface. It can be seen from the literature that the nanotherapeutic
approach for the management of HCC has a high potential to become the mainstream
treatment platform if explored and tweaked appropriately. In almost all the works,
promising results were seen. Maximum amount of drug was delivered at the tumor site,
drug release at unwanted sites were prevented and selectively caused cell necrosis in
the tumors, while not affecting the normal cells. These remarkable outcomes further
strengthen the nanotherapeutic platform, showcasing its true potential.
Keywords: Asialoglycoprotein receptor, Cisplatin, Cubosomes, Dendrimers, Diosmin, Doxorubicin, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Irinotecan, Liquid crystalline nanoparticles, Liver cancer, Nanoparticles, Nanostructured lipid carriers, Nanotherapy, Polyester vectors, Selenium nanoparticles, Solid lipid nanoparticles, Sorafenib, Smart nanoparticles, Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, Tumor suppressor microRNA.
