Abstract
Chitosan nanoparticles are well-known delivery systems widely used as polymeric carriers in the field of nanomedicine. Chitosan is a carbohydrate of natural origin: it is a biodegradable, biocompatible, mucoadhesive, polycationic polymer and it is endowed with penetration enhancer properties. Furthermore, it can be easily derivatized. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a remarkable health problem because current therapies, that include surgery, liver transplantation, trans-arterial embolization, chemoembolization and chemotherapy, present significant limitations due to the high risk of recurrence, to a lack of drug selectivity and to other serious side effects. Therefore, there is the need for new therapeutic strategies and for improving the liver-targeting to HCC. Nanomedicine consists in the use of nanoscale carriers as delivery systems to target and deliver drugs and/or diagnostic agents to specific organs or tissues. Chitosan and its derivatives can be successfully used in the preparation of nanoparticles that, for their peculiar surface-properties, can specifically interact with liver tumor, by passive and active targeting. This review concerns the use of chitosan nanoparticles for the therapy and theranostics of HCC and liver-targeting.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a global health problem because it is one of the most common causes of death due to tumoral diseases [1]
The present review is dedicated to nanoparticles made of chitosan and chitosan derivatives, designed for the therapy and theranostics of HCC and liver-targeting
The results of this study showed that chitosan nanoparticles inhibited HCC progression in vitro and in vivo, with the induction of necrosis, mainly by damaging and disrupting the membranes of the cells
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a global health problem because it is one of the most common causes of death due to tumoral diseases [1]. Different therapeutic strategies are available for the therapy of HCC (Figure 1). Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 870 receptors of especially tumoral cells, obtaining “smart” drug formulations, able to target a specific organ/tissue (active targeting). The present review is dedicated to nanoparticles made of chitosan and chitosan derivatives, designed for the therapy and theranostics of HCC and liver-targeting. Many of the papers show in vitro, technological characterization of the nanoparticles, all the papers describe studies on cell cultures with hepatic tumor cell lines and in vivo studies on animals, while no clinical study is reported
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