3.3.2 Chemotherapy for Liver Cancer

3.3.2 Chemotherapy for Liver Cancer

Liver cancer cells inherently exhibit multidrug resistance, making them insensitive to chemotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy often causes severe adverse reactions with poor clinical outcomes. In recent years, with the development of new chemotherapeutic agents, the combined use of chemotherapy drugs, and improvements in drug administration methods, liver cancer chemotherapy has made considerable progress. Commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs for liver cancer include fluorouracil and its derivatives, anthracyclines, platinum-based drugs, as well as newer agents such as paclitaxel, topotecan, and gemcitabine. Furthermore, with the advancement of molecular biology, research into the mechanisms of liver cancer development has deepened, and angiogenesis inhibitors may become new effective chemotherapeutic agents. For example, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, and vascular growth factor receptor inhibitors can reduce VEGF expression, significantly inhibit angiogenesis, and achieve the goal of treating liver cancer. Therefore, combining chemotherapy with surgery and interventional procedures remains the mainstay of liver cancer treatment.