Disulfiram repurposing combined with nutritional copper supplement as add-on to chemotherapy in recurrent glioblastoma (DIRECT): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial Department of Oncology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Department of Neurosurgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Department of Cancer Research and Molecular medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Endocrinology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Department of Oncology, County Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping, Sweden.
Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Section of Oncology, Akademiska University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Neurosurgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Department of Neurosurgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Department of Neurosurgery, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway .
Department of Neurosurgery, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway .
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Division of Genome Biology, Science for Life Laboratory,, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Research Center, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.
European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC), Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Cancer Clinic, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Show others and affiliations
2018 (English) In: F1000 Research, E-ISSN 2046-1402, Vol. 7, article id 1797Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: Disulfiram (DSF) is a well-tolerated, inexpensive, generic drug that has been in use to treat alcoholism since the 1950s. There is now independent preclinical data that supports DSF as an anticancer agent, and experimental data suggest that copper may increase its anti-neoplastic properties. There is also some clinical evidence that DSF is a promising anticancer agent in extracranial cancers. In glioblastoma, DSF induced O 6-methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) inhibition may increase response to alkylating chemotherapy. A recent phase I study demonstrated the safety of DSF in glioblastoma patients when DSF was administered at doses below 500 mg/day together with chemotherapy. We plan to assess the effects of DSF combined with nutritional copper supplement (DSF-Cu) as an adjuvant to alkylating chemotherapy in glioblastoma treatment.
Methods: In an academic, industry independent, multicenter, open label randomized controlled phase II/III trial with parallel group design (1:1) we will assess the efficacy and safety of DSF-Cu in glioblastoma treatment. The study will include 142 patients at the time of first recurrence of glioblastoma where salvage therapy with alkylating chemotherapy is planned. Patients will be randomized to treatment with or without DSF-Cu. Primary end-point is survival at 6 months. Secondary end-points are overall survival, progression free survival, quality of life, contrast enhancing tumor volume and safety.
Discussion: There is a need to improve the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. Results from this randomized controlled trial with DSF-Cu in glioblastoma will serve as preliminary evidence of the future role of DSF-Cu in glioblastoma treatment and a basis for design and power estimations of future studies. In this publication we provide rationale for our choices and discuss methodological issues.
Trial registration: The study underwent registration in EudraCT 2016-000167-16 (Date: 30.03.2016,) and Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02678975 (Date: 31.01.2016) before initiating the study.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages F1000Research , 2018. Vol. 7, article id 1797
Keywords [en]
Randomized controlled trial, glioma, glioblastoma, disulfiram, alkylating agents, brain tumor
National Category
Cancer and Oncology
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-101863 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.16786.1 PubMedID: 30647912 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85060038341 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-101863 DiVA, id: diva2:1705075
2022-10-202022-10-202022-10-21 Bibliographically approved