Primary
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC,
hepatocellular carcinoma) is the third leading cause of
tumor death in the world and the second leading cause in China. The high recurrence rate at 5 years after surgery also seriously affects the long-term survival of HCC patients. For reasons such as poor liver function, large
tumors, or vascular invasion, only relatively limited
palliative treatment is available. Therefore, effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are needed to improve the complex microenvironment and block the mechanism of
tumor development in order to treat the
tumor and prevent recurrence. A variety of bioactive nanoparticles have been shown to have
therapeutic effects on
hepatocellular carcinoma and have the advantages of improving drug solubility, reducing
drug side effects, preventing degradation in the blood, increasing drug exposure time, and reducing drug resistance. The development of bioactive nanoparticles is expected to complete the current clinical therapeutic approach. In this review, we discuss the therapeutic advances of different nanoparticles for
hepatocellular carcinoma and discuss their potential for postoperative applications with respect to possible mechanisms of
hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence. We further discuss the limitations regarding the application of NPs and the safety of NPs.