Table 4.

Different models for the study of TACE treating HCC with nano-formulation

Species	Models	Characteristic	Research field	Refs.
Human	HCC patients	Clinical trials, high level of evidence	Image (MRI); drug delivery	[47, 50, 51, 97]
Rat	N1S1 liver tumor; Mca-rh7777 rat; ACI rat (Morris hepatoma 3924A)	Low cost, easy to obtain, breed and raise, relatively easy to modeling	Image (MRI); drug deliver; embolization; PTT, targeting therapy	[49, 52, 53, 56, 61, 74–76, 96, 98, 146]
Rabbit	VX2 liver cancer; rabbit ear embolization model	Similar pathological and anatomic characteristics with HCC patients, high reproductive, large body size, and suitable for TACE procedure	Image (US, X-ray, MRI); drug deliver; embolization; gene therapy; PTT; PDT; microwave ablation	[36, 54, 55, 57–60, 62–66, 68, 69, 78, 107, 113, 146, 156]
Swine	Porcine (healthy); PBPK model	High homology to human, suitable for interventional intubation	Embolization; image (X-ray); pharmacokinetic profiles; drug deliver	[36, 154, 155]

PBPK porcine semi-physiologically based pharmacokinetic