A Systematic Review: Insights on Understanding and Designing Hepatic Drug Delivery Research

Liver is the largest gland and one of the most vital organ in the human body that is responsible for an array of functions that help metabolism, immunity, digestion, detoxification, vitamin storage, excretion of waste metabolites, and the synthesis of various proteins. Its primary function is to control the flow and safety of substances absorbed from the digestive system before it’s systemic circulation. The major liver diseases, such as viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, are significant global health issues that contribute more than 2 million deaths per annum worldwide. Even though various medication and surgical treatment options are available, effective treatment remains a challenge today, because of the drawbacks of the existing drug delivery methods, such as the inability to deliver an adequate concentration of drugs to the diseased liver, non-specific drug distribution, reduction in bioavailability, and negative effects on healthy tissues. Many liver diseases remain incurable, and therefore, currently the liver is an important target for drug delivery research, and the healthcare researcher needs to contribute scientific study outcomes continuously for improving the health of patients suffering from illnesses of liver. For performing hepatic-related research, it is important to have a basic and thorough understanding of liver anatomy, pathophysiological functions, metabolic pathways, types of liver diseases, current treatments, drugs available or approved in the market, new therapeutics under research and advances in drug delivery systems. This review discusses all these aspects of liver related challenges and give directions for future researchers in this domain for patient wellness.