Potential Nanoformulation Approaches for Delivery of HCC Therapeutic Agents

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cancer type worldwide. Themajor challenge with HCC is that it is usually detected at an advanced stage. After thelaunch of the first drug Sorafenib against HCC in 2007, several other small moleculesand monoclonal antibody-based drugs have been launched to fight against HCC.However, the survival rate in HCC is still very poor. This indicates that there is still anecessity for more effective therapy or to increase the efficacy of the existing therapy.Nanoformulation approach refers to such formulation approaches where the particlesize of individual particles or vesicles in a formulation range between 1-1000 nm. Theindividual particle or vesicle could be either single drug particles ornanosphere/nanocapsules having drug entrapped in polymer/lipid matrix or drugconnected with metal or metal oxide core. The idea of using nanoformulations for drugtargeting first came around the 1950s. Since then, countless research groups across theworld have advanced the field to the extent that several products based on thenanoformulation approach have been launched on the market. Besides targeting,nanoparticles can also help circumvent biopharmaceutical challenges of drugs, such asdissolution, limited oral bioavailability issue, or formulating "hard to solubilize" typesof molecules for parenteral formulation. This chapter will review differentnanoformulation approaches that can be potentially applied for HCC therapy, theirmanufacturing process, and therapeutic benefits. We will review the application ofdifferent nanoformulation approaches for HCC specific therapeutic agents.