Evaluation of the Antineoplastic Efficacy of Mitoxantrone With Different Storage Times on Tumor Cell Lines

Cytotoxic drugs do not contain preservatives; therefore, they are intended for single-use or disposal on the same day in human medicine. It may lead to medication wastage, increased treatment costs, and environmental pollution in veterinary medicine because veterinary patients are usually much smaller than humans. Mitoxantrone is an expensive anthracycline cytotoxic drug widely used in medical oncology. According to the literature, mitoxantrone can be stored at [Formula: see text]C for up to one year after opening, but it may not be a convenient option for clinical storage. Therefore, we used four different canine tumor cell lines: B-cell lymphoma (CLBL-1), T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (UL-1), mammary gland tumor (CMT-1), and osteosarcoma (D17) to evaluate the efficacy of mitoxantrone with different storage time. Three parallel experiments of mitoxantrone efficacy testing were conducted for each cell line at weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 12. After opening, mitoxantrone was stored in the dark at [Formula: see text]C. Drug aspiration and handling were performed under aseptic conditions. The results showed no significant differences in antineoplastic efficacy between different time points in four cell lines ([Formula: see text] 0.42, 0.16, 0.12, and 0.10, respectively). In conclusion, mitoxantrone maintains its effectiveness on all cell lines for up to three months, allowing for a longer shelf life in practical applications.