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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2015; 21(42): 12022-12041
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.12022
Nanoparticles for targeted delivery of therapeutics and small interfering RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma
Jaleh Varshosaz, Maryam Farzan
Jaleh Varshosaz, Maryam Farzan, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Novel Drug Delivery Systems Research Centre, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan 81746-73461, Iran
Author contributions: Varshosaz J and Farzan M analyzed the literature and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jaleh Varshosaz, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Novel Drug Delivery Systems Research Centre, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan 81745-359, Iran. varshosaz@pharm.mui.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-311-7922579 Fax: +98-311-668001
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 6, 2015
First decision: June 23, 2015
Revised: July 31, 2015
Accepted: September 30, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Processing time: 196 Days and 16 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Targeted nanoparticles have gained considerable attention as an efficient drug and gene delivery system in hepatocellular carcinoma owing to their capability for achieving the highest accumulation of cytotoxic agents in tumor tissue, modifiable drug pharmacokinetic- and bio-distribution, improved effectiveness of treatment, and limited side-effects. This review covers a broad spectrum of targeted nanoparticles as therapeutic and non-viral small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery systems, which are developed for enhanced cellular uptake and targeted gene silencing in vitro and in vivo. Their characteristics and opportunities for the clinical applications of drugs and therapeutic siRNA are discussed in this article.