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Updated: Feb 16, 2026
Construction of Cyclic Cell-Penetrating Peptides for Enhanced Penetration of Biological Barriers
Published on: September 19, 2022
Repurposing disulfiram for cancer therapy via targeted nanotechnology through enhanced tumor mass penetration and
Huacheng He1, Eleni Markoutsa1, Jing Li1
1Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, 715 Sumter St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
Abstract:
Disulfiram (DSF), an FDA approved drug for the treatment of alcoholism, degrades to therapeutically active diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) in the body by reduction. Hereby, we developed a redox sensitive DDTC-polymer conjugate for targeted cancer therapy. It was found that the DDTC-polymer conjugate modified with a β-d-galactose receptor targeting ligand can self-assemble into LDNP nanoparticle and efficiently enter cancer cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Upon cellular uptake, the LDNP nanoparticle degrades and releases DDTC due to the cleavage of disulfide bonds, and subsequently forms copper (II) DDTC complex to kill a broad spectrum of cancer cells. 3D cell culture revealed that this nanoparticle shows much stronger tumor mass penetrating and destructive capacity. Furthermore, LDNP nanoparticles exhibited much greater potency in inhibiting tumor growth in a peritoneal metastatic ovarian tumor model.
Statement Of Significance:
The β-d-galactose receptor targeted disulfiram loaded nanoparticle (LDNP) is novel in the following aspects.
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