The Chicken Egg Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) Model as an In Vivo Method for the Investigation of the Invasion and Metastasis Cascade of Malignant Tumor Cells

Methods Mol Biol. 2021:2294:17-26. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1350-4_2.

Abstract

The CAM model enables an in vivo analysis of the individual sub-steps of the metastatic cascade like local invasion, intravasation, or the establishment of metastasis in particular organs. Incubated fertilized chicken eggs are inoculated with human tumor cells and further processed for up to 9-10 days. The invasion and metastasis of these cells is then detected quantitatively with high specificity and sensitivity by means of a PCR for human ALU sequences, using the genomic DNA isolated from distant portions of the CAM, as well as from diverse internal organs of the developing embryo.

Keywords: ALU elements; Chicken chorioallantoic membrane; DNA; In vivo model; Metastasis; Primer; Probe; Quantification; Real-time PCR; TaqMan.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alu Elements
  • Animals
  • Chick Embryo
  • Chorioallantoic Membrane / metabolism
  • Chorioallantoic Membrane / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness / pathology*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays / methods*