Emerging Use of Nanotechnology for the Treatment of Liver Diseases

Liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, resulting from hepatitis B or C virus infection, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma pose great global health challenges due to the limited curative treatment options. The application of nanoparticles has emerged as a rapidly evolving area for safely delivering therapeutic agents (i.e. drugs and nucleic acid) to treat a range of diseases, including those of the liver. In this chapter, we give an overview of various nanotechnology approaches which can be employed when treating liver diseases, focusing in particular on liver infections, fibrosis and cancer.