Dithiolethiones: a privileged pharmacophore for anticancer therapy and chemoprevention

Dithiolethiones are five-membered sulfur-containing cyclic scaffolds that exhibit antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antithrombic and chemotherapeutic activities. Dithiolethiones display the chemopreventive and cytoprotective effects by activating the antioxidant response element and mounting the transcription of cytoprotective phase II enzymatic machinery. In addition, several classes of dithiolethiones efficiently modulate the activities of proteins that play crucial roles in normal and cancer cells, including glutathione S-transferase, cyclooxygenases and master regulator NF-κB. The present paper summarizes synthetic aspects, pharmacological potentials and biological attributes of dithiolethiones and its derivatives. Additionally, this review concludes with a discussion on how the current state-of-the-art technologies may help in defining a structure-activity relationship of dithiolethiones, thereby facilitating the design and synthesis of potent drug candidates.