Introduction: Cancer has always been a menace for the society. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal and 3rdlargest causes of deaths around the world.Area covered: The emergence of natural actives is considered as the greatest boon for fighting cancer. The natural actives take precedence over the traditional chemotherapeutic drugs in terms of their multi-target, multi-level and coordinated effects in the treatment of HCC. Literature reports have indicated the tremendous potential of bioactive natural products in inhibiting the HCC via molecular drug targeting, augmented bioavailability, and the ability for both passive or active targeting and stimulus-responsive drug release characteristics. This review provides a newer treatment approaches involved in the mechanism of action of different natural actives used for the HCC treatment via different molecular pathways. Besides, the promising advantage of natural bioactive-loaded nanocarriers in HCC treatment has also been also presented in this review. Expert opinion: The remarkable outcomes have been observed with therapeutic efficacy of the nanocarriers of natural actives in the treatment of HCC.Furthermore, it requires a thorough assessment of the safety and efficacy evaluation of the nanocarriers for the delivery of targeted natural active ingredients in HCC.].
Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; liposomes; nanomedicine; nanoparticles; natural actives; targeted therapy.