Novel treatments for hepatocellular cancer

Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) has always been considered a therapeutic challenge, given the cytoxic drug resistant nature of the cancer and associated disorder in liver function, reducing the safety of many conventional chemotherapy agents. The Multikinase inhibitor sorafenib has been found to prolong survival in patients with advanced HCC, by around 3 months compared to placebo, but novel treatments need to be explored. Current experimental therapeutic approaches encompass a broad range of science, ranging from intrahepatic irradiation to virus directed immunotherapy. This chapter presents a horizon scan of novel treatments which are currently at early stages of trial development. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.