Cytotoxicity, Pharmacokinetics and Antitumor Efficacy of a Novel Liposomal Mitoxantrone

This investigation is based on a novel formulation of mitoxantrone liposome (LEM) with high encapsulation efficiency and good stability. Cytotoxicity of LEM tumor cell line was studied in vitro, and the result showed that cytotoxicity of LEM in HL-60 cell lines were comparable to that of free MTO. Pharmacokinetics parameters of LEM was investigated in Beagal dogs plasma with a prolonged circulation time and a decreased clearance time as compared with that of free mitonxantrane (MTO). In the in vivo antitumor studies, different tumor models of leukemia in CD2F1 mice and breast cancer in athymic mice were used to determine the antitumor activities of LEM. The results showed that as compared with free MTO, LEM had a much stronger antitumor activities, and the statistically differences were significantly. These results indicate the MTO liposomal formulation could be a new promising MTO pharmaceutics for treatment of malignant disease in clinic.