Disulfiram/copper shows potent cytotoxic effects on myelodysplastic syndromes via inducing Bip-mediated apoptosis and suppressing autophagy
Abstract
Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who resist or fail to respond to hypomethylating agents (HMAs) show very poor outcomes and have no effective treatment strategies. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed for MDS patients harboring adverse prognostic factors. Repurposing disulfiram (DSF), an alcohol-abuse drug, with or without Copper (Cu) has attracted considerable attentions as a candidate anti-tumor therapy in diverse malignancies. However, the effect of DSF in the presence or absence of Cu on MDS has not been reported yet. In this study, we found that monotherapy with DSF showed mild cytotoxic effects on MDS preclinical models. However, the anti-tumor activity of DSF was significantly enhanced in the presence of Cu in MDS in vitro and in vivo with minimal safety profiles. DSF/Cu combination blocked MDS cell cycle progression at the G0/G1 phase, accompanied by reduction of the S phase. Accordingly, co-treatment with DSF and Cu downregulated the expression of Cyclin D1 and Cyclin A2, whereas this combination upregulated the level of P21 and P27. Mechanistically, the anti-MDS effectiveness of DSF/Cu was potentially associated with activation of the ER stress-related Bip pathway and inactivation of the Akt pathway. In addition, inhibition of autophagy process also contributed to the cytotoxicity of DSF/Cu in MDS cells. In conclusion, these findings provide impressive evidence that the DSF/Cu complex shows potent anti-tumor efficacies on MDS preclinical models, representing a potential alternative therapy for MDS patients and warranting further investigation in clinical contexts.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Disulfiram treatment shows potent cytotoxic effects via ER stress-relevant Bip mediated apoptosis and suppressing autophagy.
“In addition, the treatment shows potent cytotoxic effects via ER stress-relevant binding immunoglobulin heavy chain protein (Bip) mediated apoptosis and suppressing autophagy.69”
From Off-label and repurposed use of disulfiram beyond alcohol dependence: A systematic review of clinical and preclinical evidence (2026) · cites this paper as [69]
Cites
Revised International Prognostic Scoring System for Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Greenberg, P. L., Tuechler, H., Schanz, J., Sanz, G. F., Garcia‐Manero, G., Solé, F. G., Bennett, J. M., Bowen, D., Fenaux, P., Dreyfus, F., et al. (2012) · Blood · doi:10.1182/blood-2012-03-420489 · Cited by 3,181 · see citing works
Fenaux, P., Mufti, G. J., Hellstrom-Lindberg, E., Santini, V., Finelli, C., Giagounidis, A., Schoch, R., Gattermann, N., Sanz, G., List, A., et al. (2009) · The Lancet Oncology · doi:10.1016/s1470-2045(09)70003-8 · Cited by 2,663 · see citing works
Integrating the mechanisms of apoptosis induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress
Tabas, I. A., & Ron, D. (2011) · Nature Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/ncb0311-184 · Cited by 2,603 · see citing works
Levy, J. M. M., Towers, C. G., & Thorburn, A. (2017) · Nature Reviews Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.53 · Cited by 2,526 · see citing works
Mitochondria as multifaceted regulators of cell death
Bock, F. J., & Tait, S. W. G. (2019) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/s41580-019-0173-8 · Cited by 2,482 · see citing works
Deconvoluting the context-dependent role for autophagy in cancer
White, E. (2012) · Nature reviews. Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc3262 · Cited by 1,698 · see citing works
Protein misfolding in the endoplasmic reticulum as a conduit to human disease
Wang, M., & Kaufman, R. J. (2016) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature17041 · Cited by 1,630 · see citing works
The Unfolded Protein Response and Cell Fate Control
Hetz, C. A., & Papa, F. R. (2017) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2017.06.017 · Cited by 1,567 · see citing works
The role for autophagy in cancer
White, E. (2015) · Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1172/jci73941 · Cited by 1,332 · see citing works
The impact of the endoplasmic reticulum protein-folding environment on cancer development
Wang, M., & Kaufman, R. (2014) · Nature Reviews. Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc3800 · Cited by 1,081 · see citing works
p62 at the crossroads of autophagy, apoptosis, and cancer
Moscat, J., & Diaz-Meco, M. T. (2009) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.05.023 · Cited by 1,073 · see citing works
Tumorigenic and Immunosuppressive Effects of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Cancer
Cubillos-Ruiz, J., Bettigole, S., & Glimcher, L. (2017) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.12.004 · Cited by 815 · see citing works
Alcohol-abuse drug disulfiram targets cancer via p97 segregase adaptor NPL4
Skrott, Z., Mistrik, M., Andersen, K. K., Friis, S., Majera, D., Gursky, J., Ozdian, T., Bartkova, J., Turi, Z., Moudry, P., et al. (2017) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature25016 · Cited by 807 · see citing works
The Beclin 1–VPS34 complex – at the crossroads of autophagy and beyond
Funderburk, S. F., Wang, Q. J., & Yue, Z. (2010) · Trends in Cell Biology · doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2010.03.002 · Cited by 778 · see citing works
Autophagy, Metabolism, and Cancer
White, E., Mehnert, J. M., & Chan, C. S. (2015) · Clinical Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-15-0490 · Cited by 669 · see citing works
Autophagy Inhibition Compromises Degradation of Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway Substrates
Korolchuk, V. I., Mansilla, A., Menzies, F. M., & Rubinsztein, D. C. (2009) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2009.01.021 · Cited by 657 · see citing works
Silverman, L. R., McKenzie, D. R., Peterson, B. L., Holland, J. F., Backstrom, J. T., Beach, C. L., & Larson, R. A. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.2005.05.4346 · Cited by 550 · see citing works
Pobre, K. F. R., Poet, G. J., & Hendershot, L. M. (2018) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.rev118.002804 · Cited by 433 · see citing works
UPR proteins IRE1 and PERK switch BiP from chaperone to ER stress sensor
Kopp, M. C., Larburu, N., Durairaj, V., Adams, C. J., & Ali, M. M. U. (2019) · Nature Structural & Molecular Biology · doi:10.1038/s41594-019-0324-9 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Itzykson, R., Thépot, S., Quesnel, B., Dreyfus, F., Beyne‐Rauzy, O., Turlure, P., Vey, N., Récher, C., Dartigeas, C., Legros, L., et al. (2010) · Blood · doi:10.1182/blood-2010-06-289280 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
de Witte, T., Bowen, D., Robin, M., Malcovati, L., Niederwieser, D. W., Yakoub‐Agha, I., Mufti, G. J., Fenaux, P., Sanz, G. F., Martino, R., et al. (2017) · Blood · doi:10.1182/blood-2016-06-724500 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Malcovati, L., Porta, M. G. D., Strupp, C., Ambaglio, I., Kuendgen, A., Nachtkamp, K., Travaglino, E., Invernizzi, R., Pascutto, C., Lazzarino, M., et al. (2011) · Haematologica · doi:10.3324/haematol.2011.044602 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Phosphoglycerate Kinase 1 Phosphorylates Beclin1 to Induce Autophagy
Qian, X., Li, X., Cai, Q., Zhang, C., Yu, Q., Jiang, Y., Lee, J.-H., Hawke, D. H., Wang, Y., Xia, Y., et al. (2017) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2017.01.027 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Self-citationBCL-2 family: integrating stress responses at the ER to control cell demise
Pihán, P., Carreras-Sureda, A., & Hetz, C. (2017) · Cell Death & Differentiation · doi:10.1038/cdd.2017.82 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Allensworth, J. L., Evans, M. K., Bertucci, F., Aldrich, A. J., Festa, R. A., Finetti, P., Ueno, N. T., Safi, R., McDonnell, D. P., Thiele, D. J., et al. (2015) · Molecular Oncology · doi:10.1016/j.molonc.2015.02.007 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
p62, an autophagy hero or culprit?
Rusten, T. E., & Stenmark, H. (2010) · Nature Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/ncb0310-207 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Cvek, B., Milacic, V., Taraba, J., & Dou, Q. P. (2008) · Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · doi:10.1021/jm8007807 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
The combination of disulfiram and copper for cancer treatment
Li, H., Wang, J., Wu, C., Wang, L., Chen, Z.-S., & Cui, W. (2020) · Drug Discovery Today · doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2020.04.003 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Jabbour, E. J., Short, N. J., Bravo, G. M., Huang, X., Bueso-Ramos, C., Qiao, W., Yang, H., Zhao, C., Kadia, T. M., Borthakur, G. M., et al. (2017) · Blood · doi:10.1182/blood-2017-06-788497 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Clinical Implications of Genetic Mutations in Myelodysplastic Syndrome
Kennedy, J. A., & Ebert, B. L. (2017) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.2016.71.0806 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Clonal evolution in myelodysplastic syndromes
da Silva-Coelho, P., Kroeze, L. I., Yoshida, K., Koorenhof‐Scheele, T. N., Knops, R., van de Locht, L. T., de Graaf, A. O., Massop, M., Sandmann, S., Dugas, M., et al. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms15099 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Xu, B., Wang, S., Li, R., Chen, K., He, L., Deng, M., Kannappan, V., Zha, J., Dong, H., & Wang, W. (2017) · Cell Death and Disease · doi:10.1038/cddis.2017.176 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Self-citationPorta, M. G. D., Tuechler, H., Malcovati, L., Schanz, J., Sanz, G. F., Garcia‐Manero, G., Solé, F. G., Bennett, J. M., Bowen, D., Fenaux, P., et al. (2015) · Leukemia · doi:10.1038/leu.2015.55 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
MITOL prevents ER stress‐induced apoptosis by IRE1α ubiquitylation at ER–mitochondria contact sites
Takeda, K., Nagashima, S., Shiiba, I., Uda, A., Tokuyama, T., Ito, N., Fukuda, T., Matsushita, N., Ishido, S., Iwawaki, T., et al. (2019) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.15252/embj.2018100999 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Repurposing Disulfiram as An Anti-Cancer Agent: Updated Review on Literature and Patents
Ekinci, E., Rohondia, S. O., Khan, R., & Dou, Q. P. (2019) · Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery · doi:10.2174/1574892814666190514104035 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
The unfolded protein response as a target for anticancer therapeutics
Wang, M., Law, M. E., Castellano, R. K., & Law, B. K. (2018) · Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology · doi:10.1016/j.critrevonc.2018.05.003 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Cvek, B. (2011) · Drug Discovery Today · doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2011.12.010 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Collins, F. S. (2011) · Nature Reviews Drug Discovery · doi:10.1038/nrd3461 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Zha, J., Chen, F., Dong, H., Shi, P., Yao, Y., Zhang, Y., Li, R., Wang, S., Li, P., Wang, W., et al. (2014) · Journal of Translational Medicine · doi:10.1186/1479-5876-12-163 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Self-citationRodríguez, D. A., Zamorano, S., Lisbona, F., Rojas‐Rivera, D., Urra, H., Cubillos‐Ruiz, J. R., Armisén, R., Henríquez, D. R., Cheng, E. H. Y., Letek, M., et al. (2012) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1038/emboj.2012.84 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Lin, Y., Wang, Z., Liu, L., & Chen, L. (2010) · Lung Cancer · doi:10.1016/j.lungcan.2010.06.004 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Suppressing autophagy enhances disulfiram/copper-induced apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer
Wu, X., Xue, X., Wang, L., Wang, W., Han, J., Sun, X., Zhang, H., Liu, Y., Che, X., Yang, J., et al. (2018) · European Journal of Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2018.02.039 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Shin, S. Y., Lee, J. M., Lee, M. S., Koh, D., Jung, H., Lim, Y., & Lee, Y. H. (2014) · Clinical Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-14-0424 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Mozessohn, L., Cheung, M. C., Fallahpour, S., Gill, T., Maloul, A., Zhang, L., Lau, O., & Buckstein, R. J. (2018) · British Journal of Haematology · doi:10.1111/bjh.15273 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Anti-cancer effects of disulfiram in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma via autophagic cell death
Park, Y. M., Go, Y. Y., Shin, S. H., Cho, J., Woo, J., & Song, J. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203069 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Majera, D., Skrott, Z., Chroma, K., Merchut-Maya, J. M., Mistrik, M., & Bartek, J. (2020) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells9020469 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Therapeutic strategies in low and high-risk MDS: What does the future have to offer?
Scalzulli, E., Pepe, S., Colafigli, G., & Breccia, M. (2020) · Blood Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.blre.2020.100689 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Disulfiram with or without metformin inhibits oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in vivo
Jivan, R., Peres, J., Damelin, L. H., Wadee, R., Veale, R. B., Prince, S., & Mavri‐Damelin, D. (2017) · Cancer Letters · doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2017.12.026 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Murase, M., IWAMURA, H., Komatsu, K., Saito, M., Maekawa, T., Nakamura, T., Yokokawa, T., & Shimada, Y. (2016) · Pharmacology Research & Perspectives · doi:10.1002/prp2.206 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Zhang, J., Chen, B., Wu, T., Wang, Q., Zhuang, L., Zhu, C. Y., Fan, N., Qing, W., Ma, Y., & Xu, X. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142422 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 51 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recent Advances in Cancer Therapeutic Copper-Based Nanomaterials for Antitumor Therapy
Aishajiang, R., Liu, Z., Wang, T., Zhou, L. Y., & Yu, D. N. (2023) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules28052303 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Copper-Based biomaterials for anti-tumor therapy: Recent advances and perspectives
Zhang, S., & Peng, S. (2025) · Acta Biomaterialia · doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2025.01.014 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Inducers of Autophagy and Cell Death: Focus on Copper Metabolism
Ling, W., Li, S., Zhu, Y., Wang, X., Jiang, D., & Kang, B. (2025) · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety · doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.117725 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Application of Disulfiram and its Metabolites in Treatment of Inflammatory Disorders
Guo, W., Chen, S., Li, C., Xu, J., & Wang, L. (2022) · Frontiers in Pharmacology · doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.795078 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Xing, T., Wang, Z., Hao, X., Mu, J., & Wang, B. (2024) · Biological Trace Element Research · doi:10.1007/s12011-024-04373-4 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Involvement of copper in cell death and cancer
Xie, J., Su, Y., Shang, W., Wu, Y., He, J., Li, T., Shen, Y., Zhang, Y.-N., Tong, X., & Bian, Q. (2024) · APOPTOSIS · doi:10.1007/s10495-024-02059-9 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Self-citationPreclinical Evaluation of the HDAC Inhibitor Chidamide in Transformed Follicular Lymphoma
Zhong, M., Tan, J., Pan, G., Jiang, Y., Zhou, H., Lai, Q., Chen, Q., Fan, L., Deng, M., Xu, B., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Oncology · doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.780118 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citationMechanisms of Copper-Induced Autophagy and Links with Human Diseases
Fu, Y., Zeng, S., Wang, Z., Huang, H., Zhao, X., & Li, M. (2025) · Pharmaceuticals · doi:10.3390/ph18010099 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Cuproptosis and its cooperative role in cancer therapy: exploring new treatment strategies
Xu, Q., Lai, Q., Wang, J., Feng, S., Gu, W., Song, L., Wang, S., Xiao, Y., & Zhao, Q. (2025) · Coordination Chemistry Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2025.217519 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Cheng, X., Hemmati, S., Pirhayati, M., Zangeneh, M. M., & Veisi, H. (2025) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules · doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.141122 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Meng, F., & Li, Z. (2024) · Inorganic Chemistry Communications · doi:10.1016/j.inoche.2024.112263 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationConan, P., Léon, A., Caroff, N., Rollet, C., Chaïr, L., Martin, J., Bihel, F. J. ‐., Mignen, O., Voisset, C., & Friocourt, G. (2023) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.1110163 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Research progress on ferroptosis in Myelodysplastic syndromes
Yang, Y., Han, J., Wei, Y., Jin, J., & Feng, W. (2025) · Frontiers in Pharmacology · doi:10.3389/fphar.2025.1561072 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Li, Y., Wang, F., & An, X. (2025) · Applied Organometallic Chemistry · doi:10.1002/aoc.70255 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Benkő, B.-M., De Brito Parreirinha, N. S., Sebe, I., & Zelkó, R. (2026) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.115441 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Nian, F., Xue, M., Zhou, W., & Zhang, S. (2026) · 3 Biotech · doi:10.1007/s13205-025-04633-7 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
[The advancement of cuproptosis in hematological tumors].
Zhou, L. J., Li, Y. Y., Zhang, L. Y., & Zhang, J. (2024) · PubMed Central · doi:10.3760/cma.j.cn121090-20240327-00116
Zhou, B., Li, W., Li, S., & Zhou, Z. (2026) · Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation · doi:10.1007/s12247-026-10456-7
- Authors
- Zha, J., Bi, S., Deng, M., Chen, K., Shi, P., Feng, L., He, J., Pu, X., Guo, C., Zhao, H., Li, Z., Jiang, Y., Song, H., & Xu, B.
- Affiliations
- Xiamen University (CN)
- Heze Municipal Hospital (CN)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Nanfang Hospital (CN)
- Dongguan People’s Hospital (CN)
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Jiang, Yirong
- Song, Haihan
- Xu, Bing
- ORCID
- Venue
- European Journal of Pharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-07
- Volume
- 902
- Pages
- 174107
- ISSN
- 0014-2999 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3154093210
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 1.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Pharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer-related Molecular Pathways
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Metal complexes synthesis and properties
- Keywords
- disulfiram, copper, myelodysplastic syndrome, drug repurposing, combination therapy, apoptosis, autophagy inhibition, endoplasmic reticulum stress, Akt signaling, cell cycle arrest, cyclin D1, cyclin A2, p21, p27, cytotoxicity
- MeSH terms
- Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP, Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Autophagy, Cell Cycle, Copper, Disulfiram, Female, Heat-Shock Proteins, Humans, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Nude, Mitochondria, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Apoptosis, Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt, Mice, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review