background: disulfiram is oral aldehyde dehydrogenase (aldh) inhibitor that has been used in the treatment of alcoholism. recent studies show that this drug has anticancer properties; however, its rapid degradation has limited its clinical application. encapsulation of disulfiram polymeric nanoparticles (nps) may improve its anticancer activities and protect rapid degradation of the drug. mater...

Disulfiram (tetraethylthiuram disulfide) was found to be a potent and selective inhibitor of the alternative respiratory path of plant mitochondria. The onset of inhibition by disulfiram takes several minutes and the inhibition is not readily reversed by washing, nor by metal ions. By contrast, thiols such as dithiothreitol not only reverse, but also prevent, disulfiram inhibition. Inhibition b...

Supervised intake of the alcohol deterrent (AD) disulfiram has proven to be an effective adjunct to biopsychosocial alcoholism therapy for more than 60 years. This article summarizes disulfiram literature between 1937 and 2000 and reviews 13 clinical trials of disulfiram in alcoholism treatment from the years 2000 to 2008. After giving an update of general safety issues and recent case reports ...

Disulfiram is a dithiocarbamate drug used for alcohol aversion therapy that produces a distal sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy in certain individuals. Because carbon disulfide, a disulfiram metabolite, produces a peripheral neuropathy clinically similar to disulfiram, it has been postulated that disulfiram neuropathy results from CS2 release in vivo. The current study evaluated the morphologi...

Disulfiram, a clinically used alcohol-deterrent has gained prominence as a potential anti-cancer agent due to its impact on copper-dependent processes. Few studies have investigated zinc effects on disulfiram action, despite it having high affinity for this metal. Here we studied the cytotoxic effects of disulfiram in breast cancer cells, and its relationship with both intra and extracellular z...

1. The effect of disulfiram on the activity of the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenases of sheep liver was studied. 2. Disulfiram causes an immediate inhibition of the enzyme reaction. The effect on the cytoplasmic enzyme is much greater than on the mitochondrial enzyme. 3. In both cases, the initial partial inhibition is followed by a gradual irreversible loss of activity. 4. ...

Objective: Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymatic activity identifies ovarian cancer stem-like cells. We investigated the antineoplastic activity of the ALDH inhibitor Disulfiram on bulk ovarian cancer cells and CD133+/ALDH+ cancer stem-like cells. Study Design: Ovarian cancer cell lines, human ovarian surface epithelial cells, and mesenchymal stem cells were treated with increasing concentrat...

Disulfiram and its primary metabolite diethyldithiocarbamate are effective mechanism-based inhibitors of cytochrome P-450 2E1 (CYP2E1)1 in vitro. Single-dose disulfiram diminishes CYP2E1 activity in vivo and has been used to identify CYP2E1 participation in human drug metabolism and prevent CYP2E1-mediated toxification. Specificity of single-dose disulfiram toward CYP2E1 in vivo, however, remai...

BACKGROUND Clinical trials indicate that disulfiram (250 mg/d) reduces cocaine use, though one study found that treatment with lower doses of disulfiram (62.5 and 125 mg/d) increased cocaine use. We conducted the present study to better understand how disulfiram alters the reinforcing effects of cocaine in cocaine users. METHODS Seventeen non-treatment seeking, cocaine-dependent volunteers pa...

BACKGROUND Despite its success with compliant or supervised patients, disulfiram has been a controversial medication in the treatment of alcoholism. Often, study designs did not recognize a pivotal factor in disulfiram research, the importance of an open-label design. Our objectives are: (1) to analyze the efficacy and safety of disulfiram in RCTs in supporting abstinence and (2) to compare bli...