Advances in Pharmaceutics, Genomics, and Biotechnology for Liver Disease Therapy
A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Targeting and Design".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Currently, liver disease has increased in incidence worldwide, representing a global health burden that encompasses a spectrum of conditions such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. This growing burden underscores the urgent need to discover novel strategies to treat liver diseases and mitigate liver damage.
The new era of biomedical research has opened new avenues to pharmacological, genomic, and biotechnological interventions for more effective treatment. Recent advances in these areas have transformed the landscape of diagnosis, therapy, and prevention. Pharmacological strategies now include nanocarrier-based targeted drug delivery, immunomodulators formulated for sustained release, and antifibrotic agents loaded into biodegradable polymers to enhance hepatic bioavailability. Genomic technologies, including next-generation sequencing and genome-wide association studies (GWASs), now support the design of patient-specific lipid nanoparticles for gene therapy, guided by genetic variants in drug metabolism (e.g., CYP450 polymorphisms) or disease-associated targets (e.g., PNPLA3 in MASLD), thereby facilitating personalized formulation strategies. Biotechnological innovations such as drug-eluting bioengineered liver scaffolds and exosome-based delivery of regenerative miRNAs merge material science with pharmacology, offering novel platforms for liver repair and functional restoration.
Integrating these disciplines provides a comprehensive framework to improve patient outcomes and deepen our understanding of the complex biology underlying liver diseases. This Special Issue will explore emerging pharmacological, genomic, and biotechnological approaches in treating liver disease, aiming to gather relevant insights that will expand current knowledge and pave the way for developing novel therapeutic strategies.
Prof. Dr. Juan Socorro Armendariz-Borunda
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- liver disease
- nanocarriers
- lipid nanoparticles
- gene therapy
- bioengineered scaffolds
- biotechnological innovation
- drug delivery
- pharmaceutical formulation
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