Disulfiram: A Food and Drug Administration-approved multifunctional role in synergistically drug delivery systems for tumor treatment

Disulfiram (DSF), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug for the treatment of alcoholism, has been found to have antitumor activity. DSF showed better antitumor efficiency when it was used in combination with certain antitumor drugs. DSF plays an important role in cancer treatment. It has been used as multidrug resistance (MDR) modulator to reverse MDR and can also combine with copper ions (Cu2+), which will produce copper diethyldithiocarbamate (Cu[DDC](2)) complex with antitumor activity. The synergistic targeted drug delivery for cancer treatment based on DSF, especially the combination with exogenous Cu2+ and its forms of administration, has attracted extensive attention in the biomedical field. In this review, we summarize these synergistic delivery systems, in the hope that they will contribute to the continuous optimization and development of more advanced drug delivery systems. Furthermore, we discuss the current limitation and future directions of DSF-based drug delivery systems in the field of tumor therapy. Hopefully, our work may inspire further innovation of DSF-based antitumor drug delivery systems.

Automated summary

Disulfiram (DSF), an FDA-approved drug for alcoholism, has shown antitumor activity, particularly when combined with certain antitumor drugs. It acts as a multidrug resistance (MDR) modulator and forms a complex with copper ions (Cu2+) with antitumor activity. The use of DSF for synergistic targeted drug delivery in cancer treatment has attracted attention in the biomedical field. This review summarizes synergistic delivery systems using DSF and discusses the limitations and future directions in tumor therapy.