Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as a model to study tumor metastasis

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Angiogenesis Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tumor metastasis represents a major problem in the treatment of patients with different cancers. Specific phenotype and behavior of metastatic cells derive from specific molecular mechanisms involved in consecutive steps of the metastatic process. Several in vitro and in vivo experimental models have been utilized, but they cannot completely reproduce and characterize each step of the metastatic process. This review article is focused on the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as an in vivo model to study the metastatic process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ribatti D, Mangialardi G, Vacca A (2006) Stephen Paget and the ‘seed and soil’ theory of metastatic dissemination. Clin Exp Med 6:145–149. doi:10.1007/s10238-006-0117-4

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Folkman J (1990) What is the evidence that tumors are angiogenesis dependent? J Natl Cancer Inst 82:4–6. doi:10.1093/jnci/82.1.4

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Auerbach R, Lewis R, Shinners B, Kubai L, Akhtar N (2003) Angiogenesis assays: a critical overview. Clin Chem 49:32–40. doi:10.1373/49.1.32

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ribatti D, Vacca A, Roncali L, Dammacco F (2000) The chick chorioallantoic membrane as a model for in vivo research on anti-angiogenesis. Curr Pharm Biotechnol 1:73–82. doi:10.2174/1389201003379040

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ribatti D, Nico B, Vacca A, Roncali L, Burri PH, Djonov V (2001) Chorioallantoic membrane capilary bed: a useful target for studying angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis in vivo. Anat Rec 264:317–324. doi:10.1002/ar.10021

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Tufan AC, Satiroglu-Tufan NL (2005) The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as a model system for the study of tumor angiogenesis, invasion and development of anti-angiogenic agents. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 5:249–266. doi:10.2174/1568009054064624

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Romanoff AL (1960) The avian embryo: structural and functional development. The Macmillan Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  8. Fuchs A, Lindenbaum ES (1988) The two- and three-dimensional structure of the microcirculation of the chick chorioallantoic membrane. Acta Anat (Basel) 131:271–275. doi:10.1159/000146528

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ausprunk DH, Knighton DR, Folkman J (1974) Differentiation of the vascular endothelium in the chick chorioallantois: a structural and autoradiographic study. Dev Biol 38:237–247. doi:10.1016/0012-1606(74)90004-9

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Oh SJ, Jeltsch MM, Birkenhager R, McCarthy JEG, Weich HA, Christ B et al (1987) VEGF and VEGF-C: specific induction of angiogenesis and lymph angiogenesis in the differentiated avian chorioallantoic membrane. Dev Biol 188:96–109. doi:10.1006/dbio.1997.8639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wilting J, Neeff H, Christ B (1999) Embryonic lymph angiogenesis. Cell Tissue Res 297:1–11. doi:10.1007/s004410051328

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wilting J, Birkenhager R, Eichmann A, Kurz H, Martony-Baron G, Marmé D et al (1996) VEGF121 induces proliferation of vascular endothelial cells and expression of flk-1 without affecting lymphatic vessels of the chorioallantoic membrane. Dev Biol 176:76–85. doi:10.1006/dbio.1996.9993

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Papoutsi M, Tomarev SI, Eichmann A, Prols F, Christ B, Wilting J (2001) Endogenous origin of the lymphatics in the avian chorioallantoic membrane. Dev Dyn 222:238–251. doi:10.1002/dvdy.1187

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Langer R, Folkman J (1976) Polymers for sustained release of proteins and other macromolecules. Nature 263:797–800. doi:10.1038/263797a0

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Wilting J, Christ B, Bokeloh M (1991) A modified chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay for qualitative and quantitative study of growth factors. Studies on the effects of carriers, PBS, angiogenin and bFGF. Anat Embryol (Berl) 183:259–271. doi:10.1007/BF00192214

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Ribatti D, Roncali L, Nico B, Bertossi M (1987) Effects of exogenous heparin on the vasculogenesis of the chorioallantoic membrane. Acta Anat (Basel) 130:257–263. doi:10.1159/000146454

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Nguyen D, Shing Y, Folkman J (1994) Quantitation of angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane. Microvasc Res 47:31–40. doi:10.1006/mvre.1994.1003

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ribatti D, Nico B, Vacca A, Presta M (2006) The gelatin sponge-chorioallantoic membrane assay. Nat Prot 1:85–91. doi:10.1038/nprot.2006.13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hamburger V, Hamilton HL (1951) A series of normal stages in development of the chick embryo. J Morphol 88:49–92. doi:10.1002/jmor.1050880104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Auerbach R, Kubai L, Knighton D, Folkman J (1974) A simple procedure for the long-term cultivation of chicken embryos. Dev Biol 41:391–394. doi:10.1016/0012-1606(74)90316-9

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Dugan JD Jr, Lawton MT, Glaser B, Brem H (1981) A new technique for explantation and in vitro cultivation of chicken embryos. Anat Rec 229:125–128. doi:10.1002/ar.1092290114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Crum R, Szabo W, Folkman J (1985) A new class of steroids inhibits angiogenesis in the presence of heparin. Science 230:1375–1378. doi:10.1126/science.2416056

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Rous P, Murphy JB (1911) Tumor implantations in the developing embryo. J Am Med Assoc 56:741

    Google Scholar 

  24. Murphy JB (1912) Transplantability of malignant tumors to embryos of a foreign species. J Am Med Assoc 59:874

    Google Scholar 

  25. Clark ER (1920) Technique of operating on chick embryos. Science 51:371–373. doi:10.1126/science.51.1319.371

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Willier BH (1924) The endocrine glands and the development of the chick. I. The effects of thyroid grafts. Am J Anat 33:67–103. doi:10.1002/aja.1000330105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Burnett FM (1933) A virus disease of the canary of the fowl-pox group. J Path Bact 37:107–122. doi:10.1002/path.1700370111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Taylor A, Carmichael N, Norris T (1948) A further report on yolk sac cultivation of tumor tissue. Cancer Res 8:264

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Karnofsky DA, Ridgway LP, Patterson PA (1952) Tumor transplantation to the chick embryo. Ann N Y Acad Sci 35:313–329. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1952.tb26547.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Korngold L, Lipari R (1955) Tissue antigens of human tumors grown in rats, hamsters and eggs. Cancer Res 15:159–161

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Harris JJ (1958) The human tumors grown in the egg. Ann N Y Acad Sci 76:764–774. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1958.tb54894.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Kaufman N, Kinney TD, Mason EJ, Prieto LC (1955) Maintenance of human neoplasm on the chick chorioallantoic membrane. Am J Pathol 32:271–285

    Google Scholar 

  33. Dagg CP, Karnofsky DA, Roddy J (1956) Growth of transplantable human tumors in the chick embryo and hatched chick. Cancer Res 16:589–596

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Locker J, Goldblatt BJ, Leighton J (1969) Hematogenous metastasis of Yoshida Ascites Hepatoma in the chick embryo liver: ultrastructural changes in tumor cells. Cancer Res 29:1244–1253

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ossowski L, Reich E (1980) Experimental model for quantitative study of metastasis. Cancer Res 40:2300–2309

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Yu W, Kim J, Ossowski L (1997) Reduction in surface urokinase receptor forces malignant cells into a protracted state of dormancy. J Cell Biol 137:767–777. doi:10.1083/jcb.137.3.767

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Kim J, Yu W, Kovalski K, Ossowski L (1998) Requirement for specific proteases in cancer cell intravasation as revealed by a novel semiquantitative PCR-based assay. Cell 94:353–362. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81478-6

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Chambers AF, Sharif R, Ling V (1982) A model system for studying metastasis using the embryonic chick. Cancer Res 42:4018–4025

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. MacDonald IC, Schmidt EE, Morris VL, Chambers AF, Groom AC (1992) Intravital videomicroscopy of the chorioallantoic microcirculation: a model system for studying metastasis. Microvasc Res 44:185–199. doi:10.1016/0026-2862(92)90079-5

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Koop S, Schmidt EE, MacDonald IC, Morris VL, Khokha R, Grattan M et al (1996) Independence of metastatic ability and extravasation: metastatic ras-transformed and control fibroblasts extravasate equally well. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:11080–11084. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.20.11080

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Khoka R, Zimmer MJ, Wilson SM, Chambers AF (1992) Upregulation of TIMP-1 expression in B16–F10 melanoma cells suppresses their metastatic ability in chick embryo. Clin Exp Metastasis 10:365–370. doi:10.1007/BF00133464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Brooks PC, Lin J-M, French DL, Quigley JP (1993) Subtractive immunization yields monoclonal antibodies that specifically inhibit metastasis. J Cell Biol 122:1351–1359. doi:10.1083/jcb.122.6.1351

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Zijlstra A, Mellor R, Panzarella G, Aimes RT, Marchenko ND, Quigley J (2002) A quantitative analysis of rate-limiting steps in the metastatic cascade using human-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cancer Res 62:7083–7092

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Mira E, Lacalle RA, Gomez-Mouton C, Leonardo E, Manes S (2002) Quantitative determination of tumor cell intravasation in a real-time polymerase chain reaction-based assay. Clin Exp Metastasis 19:313–318. doi:10.1023/A:1015563031769

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Van der Horst EH, Leupold JH, Schubbert R, Ulrich A, Allgayer H (2004) Taqman-based quantitation of invasive cells in the chick embryo metastasis assay. Biotechnique 37:940–945

    Google Scholar 

  46. Ossowski L (1988) Plasminogen activator dependent pathways in the dissemination of human tumor cells in the chick embryo. Cell 52:321–328. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(88)80025-4

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Ossowski L (1988) In vivo invasion of modified chorioallantoic membrane by tumor cells: the role of cell surface-bound urokinase. J Cell Biol 107:2437–2445. doi:10.1083/jcb.107.6.2437

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Sabeh F, Ota I, Holmbeck K, Birkedal-Hansen H, Soloway P, Balbin M et al (2004) Tumor cell traffic through the extracellular matrix is controlled by the membrane-anchored collagenase MT1-MMP. J Cell Biol 167:769–781. doi:10.1083/jcb.200408028

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Deryugina EI, Zijlstra A, Partridge JJ, Kupriyanova TA, Madsen MA, Papagiannakopoulos T et al (2005) Unexpected effect of matrix metalloproteinase down-regulation on vascular intravasation and metastasis of human fibrosarcoma cells selected in vivo for high rates of dissemination. Cancer Res 65:10959–10969. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-2228

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Shioda T, Munn LL, Fenner MH, Jain RK, Isselbacher KJ (1997) Early events of metastasis in the microcirculation involve changes in gene expression of cancer cells tracking mRNA levels of metastasizing cancer cells in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane. Am J Pathol 150:2099–2112

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Kobayashi T, Koshida K, Endo Y, Imao T, Uchibayashi T, Sasaki T et al (1998) A chick embryo model for metastatic human prostate cancer. Eur Urol 34:154–160. doi:10.1159/000019702

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Bobek V, Plachy J, Pinterova D, Kolostova K, Boubelik M, Jiang P et al (2004) Development of a green fluorescent protein metastatic-cancer chick-embryo drug-screen model. Clin Exp Metastasis 21:347–352. doi:10.1023/B:CLIN.0000046138.58210.31

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Fidler IJ (1975) Biological behavior of malignant melanoma cells correlated to their survival in vivo. Cancer Res 35:218–224

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Chambers AF, Schmidt EE, MacDonald IC, Morris VL, Groom AC (1992) Early steps in hematogenous metastasis of B16F1 melanoma cells in chick embryo studied by high-resolution intravital videomicroscopy. J Natl Cancer Inst 84:797–803. doi:10.1093/jnci/84.10.797

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Koop S, Khokha R, Schmidt EE, MacDonald IC, Morris VL, Chambers AF et al (1994) Overexpression of metalloproteinase inhibitor in B16F10 cells does not affect extravasation but reduces tumor growth. Cancer Res 54:4791–4797

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Koop S, MacDonald IC, Luzzi K, Schmidt EE, Morris VL, Grattan M et al (1995) Fate of melanoma cells entering the microcirculation: over 80% survive and extravasate. Cancer Res 55:2520–2523

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Taizi M, Deutsch VR, Letiner A, Ohana A, Goldtsein RS (2006) A novel and rapid in vivo system for testing therapeutics on human leukemias. Exp Hematol 34:1698–1708. doi:10.1016/j.exphem.2006.07.005

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. Gordon J, Quigley J (1986) Early spontaneous metastasis in the human epidermoid carcinoma Hep3/chick embryo model: contribution of incidental colonization. Int J Cancer 38:437–444. doi:10.1002/ijc.2910380321

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Lugassy C, Barnhill RL (2007) Angiotropic melanoma and extravascular migratory metastasis: a review. Adv Anat Pathol 14:195–201. doi:10.1097/PAP.0b013e31805048d9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Hagedorn M, Javerzat S, Gilges D, Meyre A, de Lafarge B, Eichmann A et al (2005) Accessing key steps of human tumor progression in vivo by using an avian embryo model. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:1643–1648. doi:10.1073/pnas.0408622102

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Papoutsi M, Sleeman JP, Wilting GJ (2001) Interaction of rat tumor cells with blood vessels and lymphatics of the avian chorioallantoic membrane. Microsc Res Tech 55:100–107. doi:10.1002/jemt.1161

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Papoutsi M, Siemeister G, Weindel K, Tomarev SI, Kurz H, Schachtele C et al (2000) Active interaction of human A375 melanoma cells with the lymphatics in vivo. Histochem Cell Biol 114:373–385

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Ribatti D, Vacca A, Roncali L, Dammacco F (1996) The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as a model for in vivo research on angiogenesis. Int J Dev Biol 40:1189–1197

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Ribatti D, Nico B, Pezzolo A, Vacca A, Meazza R, Cinti R et al (2006) Angiogenesis in a human neuroblastoma xenograft model: mechanisms and inhibition by tumour-derived interferon-gamma. Br J Cancer 94:1845–1852

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Ribatti D, Alessandri G, Vacca A, Iurlaro M, Ponzoni M (1998) Human neuroblastoma cells produce extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes, induce endothelial cell proliferation and are angiogenic in vivo. Int J Cancer 77:449–454

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Supported in part by MIUR (FIRB 2001), Rome, and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Puglia, Bari, Italy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Domenico Ribatti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cimpean, A.M., Ribatti, D. & Raica, M. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as a model to study tumor metastasis. Angiogenesis 11, 311–319 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-008-9117-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-008-9117-1

Keywords

Navigation