Hepatocellular carcinoma: review of current treatment with a focus on targeted molecular therapies

The treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a challenge, with 1- and 3-year survival rates of 20% and 5%, respectively, and a median survival of 8 months. However, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of HCC, and advances in targeted molecular therapies provide physicians treating this disease with new hope. The treatment of HCC is multidisciplinary, requiring surgeons, hepatologists, interventional radiologists and oncologists. Thus, there is enormous potential to combine various treatment modalities to improve survival for patients. This review will describe what is currently known about the molecular pathogenesis of HCC, explore current and future treatments based on these pathways, and describe how these new therapies fit into existing approaches to HCC treatment.