Editor: Biswajit Mukherjee

Nanotherapeutics for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

eBook: US $129 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $236
Printed Copy: US $171
Library License: US $516
ISBN: 978-981-5039-75-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-981-5039-74-0 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2021
DOI: 10.2174/97898150397401220101

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of death globally. Conventional chemotherapeutic agents are unable to penetrate cancerous hepatocytes completely and are toxic to non cancerous cells and tissues. This toxicity significantly compromises the therapeutic outcome of conventional chemotherapeutic agents which is also reflected in the high mortality of the disease. Nanotherapeutics have shed new light onto HCC treatment by enabling site-specific in vivo delivery of chemotherapeutics specifically to neoplastic hepatocytes without affecting normal hepatocytes. Thus, nanotherapeutics have shown considerable potential and there is tremendous impetus for rapid translation from the pre-clinical to the clinical domain to significantly prolong the survival in HCC. In Nanotherapeutics for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, authoritative experts of the field have explored the important aspects of nanotherapeutics against HCC. The book exhaustively, vividly and explicitly describes the molecular pathogenesis, diagnostic aspects and nanotherapy of HCC, while also highlighting the challenges of conventional therapy and the benefits of nanotherapeutics. Chapters of the book also cover recent investigations of nanotherapeutics against HCC, types of nanomedicines, recent patents, commercially available nanotherapeutics and a future perspective to give a comprehensive review of the topic to readers. In addition to these defining features, the book provides several references for further reading. The book is an ideal resource on HCC nanotherapeutics for medical and pharmacology postgraduate students, faculties, researchers, and biomedical scientists working on HCC and nanotherapy.

Audience: Medical oncologists, pharmacologists, liver oncology specialists, researchers in pharmaceutical R&D and medicinal chemistry, postgraduates and scientific faculty members.

Preface

Cancer is a fatal disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become a predominant cause of cancer-related deaths. Existing therapy against the HCC is inadequate for several reasons, such as late diagnosis, HCC being asymptomatic at the initial stage, liver resection or transplantation as an advisable treatment option, non-availability of the liver for transplantation, rejection of the transplanted liver by the body, nonspecific chemotherapy that causes damages to cancerous as well as normal hepatic cells, fast rejection of free drug/small molecules from hepatic tumors, the formation of resistance against chemotherapy by cancer cells, and the dearth of the non-targeted drug system.

Hence, it is essential to deliver the drug/formulation specifically to the cancer cells to induce apoptosis and reduction or cessation of proliferation, keeping normal healthy cells unaffected. Nanoscale drug delivery systems show such capabilities for targeted drug delivery to the HCC specific cells, avoiding the normal cells. Several investigations showed how productive and beneficial nanotherapy is in successfully delivering a drug in HCC cells by specifically targeting cancer cells. Commercial availability of the new formulations has been explored and is already in the pipeline of commercialization. Hence, it is important to understand nanotherapy and its correlation to HCC patients to control HCC in a better and satisfactory way. However, technology still needs to be improved for ease of manufacturing and cost-effective production of nanotherapy against HCC. More efforts are required to concentrate on the targeting aspects of the formulation of HCC cells.

The content of this book would be suitable for medical students, medical faculties, researchers of medicines, biomedical scientists, and researchers studying and working in hepatocellular carcinoma and nanotherapy. In this book, several chapters by the authoritative experts of the field have explored all the areas of nanotherapeutics against HCC. The readers will benefit from the knowledge shared by the experts. Thus, nanotherapeutics have shown considerable potential and tremendous impetus for rapid translation from the pre-clinical to the clinical domain to significantly prolong the survival in HCC. Based on the recent investigations, the book is intended to highlight the impact of nanotherapeutics in HCC treatment and its future direction.



Professor (Dr.) Biswajit Mukherjee
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology,
Jadavpur University,
Kolkata 700032,
India,