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Recent advances in the delivery of disulfiram: a critical analysis of promising approaches to improve its pharmacokinetic profile and anticancer efficacy

DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences volume 27, pages 853–862 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Disulfiram (DSF) has a long history of being used as a first-line promising therapy for treatment of alcoholism in human. Besides its prominence in the treatment of alcoholism, extensive investigations have been carried out to explore other biomedical and pharmacological effects of DSF. Amongst other biomedical implications, plenty researches have shown evidence of promising anticancer efficacy of this agent for treatment of wide range of cancers such as breast cancer, liver cancer and lung carcinoma.

Methods

Electronic databases, including Google scholar, PubMed and Web of science were searched with the keywords disulfiram, nanoparticles, cancer, drug delivery systems.

Result

Despite its excellent anticancer efficacy, the pharmaceutical significance and clinical applicability of DSF are hampered due to poor stability, low solubility, short plasma half-life, rapid metabolism, and early clearance from systemic circulation. Various attempts have been made to eradicate these issues. Nanotechnology based interventions have gained remarkable recognition in improving pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of DSF by improving its stability and avoiding its degradation.

Conclusion

The aim of the present review is to critically analyse all recent developments in designing various nanotechnology-based delivery systems, to ponder their relevance in improving stability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile, and achieving target-specific delivery of this agent to cancer cells to effectively eradicate cancer and abolish its metastasis. Nanotechnology is a novel approach for overcoming such obstacles faced presently, the results obtained so far using different novel drug delivery systems seem to be very promising to increase the stability and half-life of DSF.

Nanocrrier mediated drug delivery systems for disulfiram

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211198, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Asim Farooq, Md Aquib, Dickson Pius Wande, Jiang Jiajie & Bo Wang

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Lahore College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Daulat Haleem Khan

  3. Department of Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Technology, College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 27272, United Arab Emirates

    Zahid Hussain

  4. College of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, People’s Republic of China

    Anam Ahsan

  5. State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig

  6. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Muhammad Masood Ahmad

  7. Department of Pharmacology, CMH Institute of Medical Sciences, Cantt, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan

    Hafiz Muhammad Ahsan

Authors
  1. Muhammad Asim Farooq
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  2. Md Aquib
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  3. Daulat Haleem Khan
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  4. Zahid Hussain
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  6. Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig
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  7. Dickson Pius Wande
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  8. Muhammad Masood Ahmad
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  9. Hafiz Muhammad Ahsan
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  10. Jiang Jiajie
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  11. Bo Wang
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Contributions

Muhammad Asim Farooq designed the review and wrote the manuscript, Md Aquib and Daulat Haleem Khan contributed to searching and data collection, Zahid Hussain critical revision of the manuscript, Anam Ahsan checked the grammar and proofread, Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig and Dickson Pius Wande revised the manuscript based on reviewers comments, Muhammad Masood Ahmad and Hafiz Muhammad Ahsan edited the manuscript, Jiang jiajie designed the figures, Bo wang supervised the project. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bo Wang.

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Farooq, M.A., Aquib, M., Khan, D.H. et al. Recent advances in the delivery of disulfiram: a critical analysis of promising approaches to improve its pharmacokinetic profile and anticancer efficacy. DARU J Pharm Sci 27, 853–862 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40199-019-00308-w

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