Nanoparticle Delivery of Active Traditional Chinese Medicine Ingredients: A New Strategy for the Treatment of Liver Cancer

The precise treatment of liver cancer is receiving much research attention. Surgery, chemoradiotherapy, and other methods remain the mainstream of this treatment, but many chemotherapeutic drugs used to treat advanced liver cancer cause adverse reactions and have unstable efficiencies. Active ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been examined widely in anti-cancer research due to their advantages of multi-pathway targeting and rich pharmacological effects. However, these active components have poor water solubility, bioavailability, and targeting efficiency. Nanomedicine has been applied to improve the efficacy of TCM ingredients in the treatment of liver cancer. Nanoparticles (NPs) show great potential in this context due to their excellent bioavailability, high controlled agent release efficiency, and clear targeting. This paper reviews the application of NPs loaded with active TCM ingredients in the treatment of liver cancer, with the aim of facilitating new vector development and improving the precision treatment of liver cancer.