Leveraging disulfiram to treat cancer: Mechanisms of action, delivery strategies, and treatment regimens.

Yao Lu, Qingqing Pan, Wenxia Gao, Yuji Pu, Kui Luo, Bin He, Zhongwei Gu

Journal: Biomaterials 2022;281():121335

PMID: 34979419

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Disulfiram (DSF) has been used as an alcoholism drug for 70 years. Recently, it has attracted increasing attention owing to the distinguished anticancer activity, which can be further potentiated by the supplementation of Cu. Although encouraging anticancer results are obtained in lab, the clinical outcomes of oral DSF are not satisfactory, which urges an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms, bottlenecks, and proposal of potential methods to address the dilemma. In this review, a critical summarization of various molecular biological anticancer mechanisms of DSF/Cu is provided and the predicament of orally delivering DSF in clinical oncotherapy is explained by the metabolic barriers. We highlight the recent advances in the DSF/Cu delivery strategies and the emerging treatment regimens for cancer treatment. Last but not the least, we summarize the clinical trials regarding DSF and make a prospect of DSF/Cu-based cancer therapy.

Address: National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China.; School of Preclinical Medicine, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China.; College of Chemistry & Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325027, China.; National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.

DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.121335

Link outs

Free resources

Medical:

https://medlineplus.gov/cancer.html

Miscellaneous:

https://assays.cancer.gov/CPTAC-972

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

MeSH Terms: Cell Line, Tumor, Copper, Disulfiram, Humans, Neoplasms