Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane model systems to study and visualize human tumor cell metastasis

Abstract

Since their introduction almost a century ago, chick embryo model systems involving the technique of chorioallantoic grafting have proved invaluable in the in vivo studies of tumor development and angiogenesis and tumor cell dissemination. The ability of the chick embryo's chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) to eYciently support the growth of inoculated xenogenic tumor cells greatly facilitates analysis of human tumor cell metastasis. During spontaneous metastasis, the highly vascularized CAM sustains rapid tumor formation within several days following cell grafting. The dense capillary network of the CAM also serves as a repository of aggressive tumor cells that escaped from the primary tumor and intravasated into the host vasculature. This spontaneous metastasis setting provides a unique experimental model to study in vivo the intravasation step of the metastatic cascade. During experimental metastasis when tumor cells are inoculated intravenously, the CAM capillary system serves as a place for initial arrest and then, for tumor cell extravasation and colonization. The tissue composition and accessibility of the CAM for experimental interventions makes chick embryo CAM systems attractive models to follow the fate and visualize microscopically the behavior of grafted tumor cells in both spontaneous and experimental metastasis settings.

Cellular heterogeneity profiling by hyaluronan probes reveals an invasive but slow-growing breast tumor subset

“…To determine if F-HA binding/uptake occurs in an in vivo-like microenvironment and is associated with invasion, we used the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model, which allows for real-time monitoring of early uptake events and tumor cell interactions within microvessels (61)(62)(63)(64). The endothelial lumen was marked (green) before injection of fluorescent MDA-MB-231 cells (red) mixed with F-HA (blue) into a CAM vein (Fig.…”

Resistance or sensitivity of Wilms’ tumor to anti-FZD7 antibody highlights the Wnt pathway as a possible therapeutic target

“…We performed an experiment to determine whether this system could be used to distinguish the effects of the FZD7 Ab on growth and proliferation of FZD7-sensitive WT cells in vivo (Deryugina and Quigley, 2008;Rashidi and Sottile, 2009 Figure S3B). After determining feasibility, we grafted smaller numbers of WT cells (1 Â 10 6 cells per egg) vitally labeled with CFSE that were incubated with FZD7 Ab or with buffer (untreated controls) (Figure 4Aa and b).…”

Development of bioluminescent chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) models from primary pancreatic cancer cells: A platform for drug testing

“…Another obvious limitation of this model is the limited time of tumor growth on the CAM. This inarguably precludes from long term follow up and prolonged longitudinal study of treatment effect, while limited information can be collected on the (micro)metastatic potential of the established tumors, which has been described only in some cancer cell types 44 . On the other hand, it has already been shown in animal models that tumor growth in the first 7 days post engraftment predicts overall survival and treatment effect 45 .…”