(1) Purpose: To assess the use of the chicken embryo (in ovo) model as an alternative in vivo model for immuno-oncology (IO) drug development, focusing on programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitors. (2) Methods: First, the presence of immune cells in the model was detected through the immunophenotyping of chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) based on fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis and the immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of in ovo tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Second, the cross-reactivity between one anti-human PD-1 Ab, pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®), and chicken PD-1 was verified through the labelling of chicken splenocytes with pembrolizumab by FACS analysis. Third, the blockade effect of pembrolizumab on chicken PBMCs was assessed in vitro through cytotoxicity assay based on MTT. Fourth, the CAM assay was used to estimate the anti-tumor performance of pembrolizumab through the analyses of tumor growth and chicken immune cell infiltration in tumors. Finally, the efficacy of several PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors (nivolumab, atezolizumab and avelumab) on tumor growth was further assessed using the CAM assay. (3) Results: The presence of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and monocytes was confirmed by FACS and IHC analyses. During in vitro assays, pembrolizumab cross-reacted with chicken lymphocytes and induced PD-1/PD-L1 blockade, which permitted the restoration of chicken T-cell's cytotoxicity against human lung cancer H460 tumor cells. All these in vitro results were correlated with in ovo findings based on the CAM assay: pembrolizumab inhibited H460 tumor growth and induced evident chicken immune cell infiltration (with significant chicken CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD56 markers) in tumors. Furthermore, the potency of the CAM assay was not limited to the application of pembrolizumab. Nivolumab, atezolizumab and avelumab also led to tumor growth inhibition in ovo, on different tumor models. (4) Conclusions: The chicken embryo affords a physiological, immune reactive, in vivo environment for IO research, which allows observation of how the immune system defense against tumor cells, as well as the different immune tolerance mechanisms leading to tumor immune escape. The encouraging results obtained with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in this study reveal the potential use of the chicken embryo model as an alternative, fast, and reliable in vivo model in the different fields of IO drug discovery.
Keywords: CAM assay; PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor; chicken embryo; immuno-oncology; in ovo.