title: Potential Use of Biological Proteins for Liver Failure Therapy.
abstract: Biological proteins have unlimited potential for use as pharmaceutical products due to their various biological activities, which include non-toxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Recent scientific advances allow for the development of novel innovative protein-based products that draw on the quality of their innate biological activities. Some of them hold promising potential for novel therapeutic agents/devices for addressing hepatic diseases such as hepatitis, fibrosis, and hepatocarcinomas. This review attempts to provide an overview of the development of protein-based products that take advantage of their biological activity for medication, and discusses possibilities for the therapeutic potential of protein-based products produced through different approaches to specifically target the liver (or hepatic cells: hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, and Kupffer cells) in the treatment of hepatic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. k-taguchi@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taguchi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. kcyama@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.|DDS Research Institute, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. kcyama@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Keishi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. seo@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.|DDS Research Institute, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. seo@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hakaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. otagirim@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.|DDS Research Institute, Sojo University, 4-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 862-0082, Japan. otagirim@ph.sojo-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otagiri
keywords: albumin; drug delivery; erythropoietin; gelatin; hemoglobin; lactoferrin; nanomedicine; α1-acid glycoprotein