ArticleNature2017
Alcohol-abuse drug disulfiram targets cancer via p97 segregase adaptor NPL4.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 404 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
404 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 772 citations in OpenAlex.
- The molecular mechanism of cuproptosis and research progress in pancreatic diseases.Annals of medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Comprehensive analysis of regulated cell death pathways: intrinsic disorder, protein-protein interactions, and cross-pathway communication.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2025Pooled it
- Cuproptosis as a therapeutic target in cancer: a Systematic Review and bibliometric analysis of the research landscape.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- A Phase 1/2 Study of Disulfiram and Copper With Concurrent Radiation Therapy and Temozolomide for Patients With Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2024Trial
- Effect of Disulfiram and Copper Plus Chemotherapy vs Chemotherapy Alone on Survival in Patients With Recurrent Glioblastoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- The role of copper and cuproptosis in digestive system cancers: novel therapeutic strategies and mechanistic insights.Cancer biology & therapy · 2026Review
- ATP-independent unfolding of ubiquitin by Ufd1 initiates Cdc48/p97-mediated substrate processing.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Redox regulation of telomerase and telomeres in cancer: a critical appraisal of exposure, causality and molecular directness.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Cuproptosis and ferroptosis: signal pathways, diseases and therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Retinoic acid in health and disease.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Copper, cuproptosis, and cancer: biology concepts of a novel cell death.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026Review
- Activation of the NF-κB/ALDH1A1 signaling promotes non-mutational resistance to EGFR-TKIs in non-small cell lung cancer.Oncogene · 2026Article
- Repurposing Disulfiram for Cancer Therapy: Mechanistic Insights and Translational Challenges.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Exceptional treatment responses and molecular markers among 103 colorectal cancer cell lines.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Article
- Overcoming Resistance: Targeting Survivin-Driven Apoptotic Resistance Restores Irinotecan Sensitivity inCancers · 2026Article
- FAF1 cofactor enhances UFD1/NPL4-p97 unfolding efficiency across ubiquitin chain lengths independent of SUMO2.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Engineering cuproptosis with nanomedicine: Design, combination therapy, and translation in cancer.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- A deep learning and large language hybrid workflow for omics interpretation.Nature biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- FDX1 expression promotes DSF/Cu-induced cuproptosis in gastric cancer cells.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Article
- Targeting Copper in Cancer: Chelators to Counteract Cuproplasia and Ionophores to Promote Cuproptosis.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
344 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
28 authors at 10 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cancer incidence is rising and this global challenge is further exacerbated by tumour resistance to available medicines. A promising approach to meet the need for improved cancer treatment is drug repurposing. Here we highlight the potential for repurposing disulfiram (also known by the trade name Antabuse), an old alcohol-aversion drug that has been shown to be effective against diverse cancer types in preclinical studies. Our nationwide epidemiological study reveals that patients who continuously used disulfiram have a lower risk of death from cancer compared to those who stopped using the drug at their diagnosis. Moreover, we identify the ditiocarb-copper complex as the metabolite of disulfiram that is responsible for its anti-cancer effects, and provide methods to detect preferential accumulation of the complex in tumours and candidate biomarkers to analyse its effect on cells and tissues. Finally, our functional and biophysical analyses reveal the molecular target of disulfiram's tumour-suppressing effects as NPL4, an adaptor of p97 (also known as VCP) segregase, which is essential for the turnover of proteins involved in multiple regulatory and stress-response pathways in cells.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.