Chapters authored
Emerging Targeted Therapies for Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has dismal diagnosis due to the presence of underlying cirrhosis, late diagnosis, and limited treatment options. Surgery or liver transplantation is restricted to those with small tumours or well-compensated liver diseases. Despite advances in early screening and diagnosis of HCC, survival of patients has not improved greatly. Furthermore, treatment options for advanced HCC are restricted to best supportive care. Currently, sorafenib is the only drug approved for the treatment of advanced HCC patients as well as for those not suitable for transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new agents for treatment. Hepatocarcinogenesis is a complex multistep process that involves deregulation of various signalling pathways. Thus, there is no dominant molecular mechanism in HCC and understanding of these pathways provides an opportunity for development of potential therapeutic agents in an effort to reverse, prevent or delay tumourigenesis. This review will summarise the significance of these pathways in HCC and discuss the therapeutic benefits or drawbacks of the potential target agents against these pathways especially those that have been part of clinical trials.
Part of the book: Hepatocellular Carcinoma