Based on the potential for enhancing ultrasonography, glypican-3 protein (GPC-3) ligand peptide-modified silica nanoparticles loaded with FITC were designed for the targeted ultrasound molecular imaging of HCC cells mediated by GPC-3 overexpression on the cell surface (Di Paola et al., 2017). Here, GPC3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.