Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2024; 16(2): 164-176
Published online Feb 27, 2024. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i2.164
Precision targeting in hepatocellular carcinoma: Exploring ligand-receptor mediated nanotherapy
Xia-Qing Zhou, Ya-Ping Li, Shuang-Suo Dang
Xia-Qing Zhou, Ya-Ping Li, Shuang-Suo Dang, Department of Infectious Diseases, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zhou XQ and Li YP collected and analyzed the information and wrote the manuscript; Dang SS reviewed and edited the manuscript; All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical "Basic-Clinical" Integration Innovation Project, No. YXJLRH2022067; and Shaanxi Postdoctoral Research Program “Orlistat-loaded Nanoparticles as A Targeted Therapeutical Strategy for The Enhanced Treatment of Liver Cancer”, No. 2023BSHYDZZ09.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shuang-Suo Dang, PhD, Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xincheng District, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. dangshuangsuo123@xjtu.edu.cn
Received: December 20, 2023
Peer-review started: December 20, 2023
First decision: January 5, 2024
Revised: January 10, 2024
Accepted: January 18, 2024
Article in press: January 18, 2024
Published online: February 27, 2024
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and poses a major challenge to global health due to its high morbidity and mortality. Conventional chemotherapy is usually targeted to patients with intermediate to advanced stages, but it is often ineffective and suffers from problems such as multidrug resistance, rapid drug clearance, nonspecific targeting, high side effects, and low drug accumulation in tumor cells. In response to these limitations, recent advances in nanoparticle-mediated targeted drug delivery technologies have emerged as breakthrough approaches for the treatment of HCC. This review focuses on recent advances in nanoparticle-based targeted drug delivery systems, with special attention to various receptors overexpressed on HCC cells. These receptors are key to enhancing the specificity and efficacy of nanoparticle delivery and represent a new paradigm for actively targeting and combating HCC. We comprehensively summarize the current understanding of these receptors, their role in nanoparticle targeting, and the impact of such targeted therapies on HCC. By gaining a deeper understanding of the receptor-mediated mechanisms of these innovative therapies, more effective and precise treatment of HCC can be achieved.

Keywords: Targeting, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Receptor, Nanomedicine, Chemotherapy

Core Tip: This review explores the innovative field of nanoparticle-mediated targeted drug delivery in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focusing on the critical role of various overexpressed cellular receptors in improving the therapeutic specificity and efficacy of nanomedicines. It comprehensively analyzes recent advances in the development of receptor-targeted nanoparticles, revealing the complex mechanisms behind receptor-mediated drug delivery at the nanoscale. This exploration not only emphasizes the potential of nano-therapies to transform the treatment of HCC, but also provides valuable insights for future research and clinical applications.