By 1950 the work led to the knowledge that ethanol is oxidized to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde is oxidized to acetic acid by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), and that disulfiram works by inhibiting ALDH, leading to a buildup of acetaldehyde, which is what causes the negative effects in the body.The drug was first marketed in Denmark and as of 2008, Denmark is the country where it is most widely prescribed. It was approved by the FDA in 1951. The FDA later approved other drugs for treatment of alcoholism, namely naltrexone in 1994 and acamprosate in 2004. Society and culture
Though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the US has not set a permissible exposure limit (PEL) for disulfiram in the workplace, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 2 mg/m3 and recommended that workers avoid concurrent exposure to ethylene dibromide. Research
Disulfiram has been studied as a possible treatment for cancer, parasitic infections, anxiety disorder, and latent HIV infection.Disulfiram has shown reversing of retinitis pigmentosa in rats. Cancer
When disulfiram creates complexes with metals (dithiocarbamate complexes), it is a proteasome inhibitor and as of 2016 it had been studied in in vitro experiments, model animals, and small clinical  trials as a possible treatment for liver metastasis, metastatic melanoma, glioblastoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and prostate cancer. Various clinical trials of copper depletion agents have been carried out.
Implants, made from hard metals or silicone, associated with anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Familial component
Familial lymphoid cancer is rare. The familial risk of lymphoma is elevated for multiple lymphoma subtypes, suggesting a shared genetic cause. However, a family history of a specific subtype is most strongly associated with risk for that subtype, indicating that these genetic factors are subtype-specific. Genome-wide association studies  have successfully identified 67 single-nucleotide polymorphisms  from 41 loci, most of which are subtype specific. HIV/AIDS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) included certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma as AIDS-defining cancers in 1987. Immune suppression rather than HIV itself is implicated in the pathogenesis of this malignancy, with a clear correlation between the degree of immune suppression and the risk of developing NHL. Additionally, other retroviruses, such as HTLV, may be spread by the same mechanisms that spread HIV, leading to an increased rate of co-infection. The natural history of HIV infection has greatly changed over time. As a consequence, rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in people infected with HIV has significantly declined in recent years. Treatment
The traditional treatment of NHL includes chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and stem-cell transplants. There have also been developments in immunotherapy used in the treatment of NHL. Chemotherapy
The most common chemotherapy used for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma is R-CHOP, which is a regimen of four drugs (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) plus rituximab. Treatment complications
If participants receive stem-cell transplants, they can develop a graft-versus-host disease.