A nanosystem of copper(II)-disulfiram for cancer treatment with high efficacy and few side effects

Abstract

Developing chemotherapy drugs with high efficacy and few side effects has been a bottleneck problem that requires an efficient solution. The active cancer treatment ingredient disulfiram (DSF), inspired by the copper(II) diethyldithiocarbamate complex (CuET), can be used in a one-pot synthesis method to construct a CuET delivery nanosystem (CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA). Due to the high biocompatibility, targeting of CD44 overexpressed cancer cells, and acid response of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials of hyaluronic acid (HA), we realized that CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA could become an effective and highly selective cancer treatment. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments have demonstrated that CuET-ZIF_Cu@HA has robust anti-tumor properties without evident side effects. This research provided a promising strategy for DSF nanosystems that involves simple preparation and high efficacy, both of which are key to reusing DSF in cancer treatment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

disulfiram / copper(II) diethyldithiocarbamate complex / zeolitic imidazolate framework / targeted therapy

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Disclosure of potential conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81774125 and 81973671), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2019BB071), the Major Innovation and Technology Engineering Project of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2019JZZY011106), the Science and Technology Innovation Fund for College Students of Weifang Medical University, and the Weifang Medical University-Sponsored Visiting Schola Research.

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