Advancing Cancer Therapy with Copper/Disulfiram Nanomedicines and Drug Delivery Systems

Disulfiram (DSF) is a thiocarbamate based drug that has been approved for treating alcoholism for over 60 years. Preclinical studies have shown that DSF has anticancer efficacy, and its supplementation with copper (CuII) significantly potentiates the efficacy of DSF. However, the results of clinical trials have not yielded promising results. The elucidation of the anticancer mechanisms of DSF/Cu (II) will be beneficial in repurposing DSF as a new treatment for certain types of cancer. DSF’s anticancer mechanism is primarily due to its generating reactive oxygen species, inhibiting aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity inhibition, and decreasing the levels of transcriptional proteins. DSF also shows inhibitory effects in cancer cell proliferation, the self-renewal of cancer stem cells (CSCs), angiogenesis, drug resistance, and suppresses cancer cell metastasis. This review also discusses current drug delivery strategies for DSF alone diethyldithocarbamate (DDC), Cu (II) and DSF/Cu (II), and the efficacious component Diethyldithiocarbamate–copper complex (CuET).