Currently, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of
mortality among cancerous diseases. It is a primary type of liver cancer possessing
unique features like solid malignant tumor type growth, leaky vasculature, and
angiogenesis. The success of conventional treatment in the management of HCC is
constrained due to unresponsiveness to particular approaches, drug resistance, systemic
side effects, and recurrence of malignancy. The development of nanotherapeutics offers
an impending key for overcoming these challenges. Nanotherapeutics utilizes
nanosized or nanostructured materials to attain particular therapeutic and
pharmacokinetic purposes. The diverse targeting strategies and site-specific drug
release patterns of this approach enlighten the hope for effective management of HCC.
Scientists have developed several nanomaterials like nanoparticles, nanogel, and
liposomes to deliver chemotherapeutic agents specifically to HCC sites with improved
efficacy, safety, and selectivity. Active targeting has remained most common and
effective in HCC management among active, passive, and stimuli-responsive targeting
strategies. Hopefully, some nanoformulations for HCC treatment have proved their
promising effects in clinical trials. In this chapter, an attempt is made to illustrate the
overview of HCC, the impact of nanotherapeutics, along with recent developments,
suitability, and challenges of various nanotherapeutic approaches for HCC
management.
Keywords: Chemotherapy, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Nanomedicine, Nanoparticles, Primary cancer, Nanotheranostic, Selectivity, Targeting.
