Clinical trial · Interventional
Disulfiram in Recurrent Glioblastoma
DIRECT (DIsulfiram REsponse as add-on to ChemoTherapy in Recurrent) Glioblastoma: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Disulfiram (Antabuse®) is a well-tolerated, cheap, generic drug that has been in use since the 1950s to treat alcoholism. There is now an increasing amount of independent preclinical data to support disulfiram as an anticancer agent. The potency of disulfiram as an anticancer agent seems strengthened by copper. The investigators aim is to investigate disulfiram and copper-supplement as add-on treatment in glioblastoma patients with recurrence receiving alkylating chemotherapy.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glioblastoma | Glioblastoma | CURATED_BROADER | 0.80 |
| Glioma | Glioma | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.98 |
Interventions
Interventions (3)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alkylating Agents | Drug | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Copper | Dietary Supplement | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Disulfiram | Drug | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Control
- description
- Alkylating chemotherapy
- interventionNames
- Drug: Alkylating Agents
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Experimental
- description
- Alkylating chemotherapy + disulfiram + copper
- interventionNames
- Drug: Disulfiram
- Dietary Supplement: Copper
- Drug: Alkylating Agents
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Survival 6 mo
- timeFrame
- Proportion of alive participants at 6 months
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: 1. A previous diagnosis of glioblastoma (histologically verified) and presenting with a first progression/recurrence documented by MRI. 2. Indication for treatment with chemotherapeutic alkylating agents (i.e. temozolomide OR lomustine including PCV treatment). 3. Age 18 years or older. 4. Karnofsky performance status of 60 - 100 . 5. Not receiving another experimental treatment for glioblastoma at the moment of inclusion or during active treatment within the assigned group (i.e. control or disulfiram group). 6. Able to take oral medications. 7. No known allergy to disulfiram or copper. 8. Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mcL and platelets ≥ 100,000/mcL 9. Serum/plasma copper and serum ceruloplasmin within institutional limits. a. However increased levels are seen together with ongoing acute phase reaction as determined by elevated C-reactive protein (ceruloplasmin is elevated as part of the same process) it is possible to retest after normalization of C-reactive protein. 10. Willing to refrain from ingestion of alcoholic beverages while on the study is a criteria to be randomized. However, once randomized alcohol abstinence only affects the group treated with disulfiram, and in this group it includes the entire period and one month after last dosage of disulfiram. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Earlier treatment for progression (e.g. "rescue therapy") 2. History of idiopathic seizure disorder, psychosis or schizophrenia. 3. History of uncontrolled hypertension (i.e. systolic BP \> 180 mmHg) and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure 4. Received radiotherapy within the 3 months before the diagnosis of progression . 5. Addiction to alcohol or drugs. 6. Pregnant and/or breastfeeding. 7. Women of childbearing potential who do not have negative pregnancy test not older than 14 days before enrollment. 8. History of active liver disease, including chronic active hepatitis, viral hepatitis (hepatitis B, C and CMV), cholestatic jaundice of any etiology or toxic hepatitis or inadequate hepatic function, defined as baseline ASAT and ALAT \> 2.5 X upper institutional limit and/or bilirubin \> 2.0 X upper institutional limit. 9. History of Wilson's disease or family member with Wilson's disease (unless excluded as a carrier by genetic test). 10. History of hemochromatosis or family member with hemochromatosis (unless excluded as a carrier by genetic test). 11. Nickel hypersensitivity (disulfiram mobilize nickel causing a brief increase in nickel concentrations before excretion. The initial increase may lead to hepatitis and predisposed patients). 12. Need for metronidazole, warfarin and/or theophylline medication (the metabolism may be influenced by disulfiram). 13. Patients who are taking medications metabolized by cytochrome P450 2E1, including chlorzoxazone or halothane and its derivatives (phenytoin, phenobarbital, chlordiazepoxide, imipramine, diazepam, isoniazid, metronidazole, warfarin, amitriptyline within 14 days prior to the first dose of disulfiram. Of note, lorazepam and oxazepam are not affected by the P450 system and are not contraindicated with disulfiram). 14. Unfit for participation for any other reason judged by the including physician.
References
Publications (7)
- BACKGROUNDCvek B. Targeting malignancies with disulfiram (Antabuse): multidrug resistance, angiogenesis, and proteasome. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2011 Mar;11(3):332-7. doi: 10.2174/156800911794519806. PMID 21247389
- BACKGROUNDNechushtan H, Hamamreh Y, Nidal S, Gotfried M, Baron A, Shalev YI, Nisman B, Peretz T, Peylan-Ramu N. A phase IIb trial assessing the addition of disulfiram to chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Oncologist. 2015 Apr;20(4):366-7. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2014-0424. Epub 2015 Mar 16. PMID 25777347
- BACKGROUNDTriscott J, Rose Pambid M, Dunn SE. Concise review: bullseye: targeting cancer stem cells to improve the treatment of gliomas by repurposing disulfiram. Stem Cells. 2015 Apr;33(4):1042-6. doi: 10.1002/stem.1956. PMID 25588723
- BACKGROUNDWickstrom M, Danielsson K, Rickardson L, Gullbo J, Nygren P, Isaksson A, Larsson R, Lovborg H. Pharmacological profiling of disulfiram using human tumor cell lines and human tumor cells from patients. Biochem Pharmacol. 2007 Jan 1;73(1):25-33. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2006.08.016. Epub 2006 Aug 26. PMID 17026967
- BACKGROUNDDufour P, Lang JM, Giron C, Duclos B, Haehnel P, Jaeck D, Jung JM, Oberling F. Sodium dithiocarb as adjuvant immunotherapy for high risk breast cancer: a randomized study. Biotherapy. 1993;6(1):9-12. doi: 10.1007/BF01877380. PMID 8389572
- DERIVEDWerlenius K, Kinhult S, Solheim TS, Magelssen H, Lofgren D, Mudaisi M, Hylin S, Bartek J Jr, Strandeus M, Lindskog M, Rashid HB, Carstam L, Gulati S, Solheim O, Bartek J, Salvesen O, Jakola AS. Effect of Disulfiram and Copper Plus Chemotherapy vs Chemotherapy Alone on Survival in Patients With Recurrent Glioblastoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Mar 1;6(3):e234149. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.4149. PMID 37000452
- Jakola AS, Werlenius K, Mudaisi M, Hylin S, Kinhult S, Bartek J Jr, Salvesen O, Carlsen SM, Strandeus M, Lindskog M, Lofgren D, Rydenhag B, Carstam L, Gulati S, Solheim O, Bartek J, Solheim T. Disulfiram repurposing combined with nutritional copper supplement as add-on to chemotherapy in recurrent glioblastoma (DIRECT): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. F1000Res. 2018 Nov 15;7:1797. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.16786.1. eCollection 2018.