Many promising drugs discovered in preclinical in vitro studies failed to fulfil the awaited clinical outcomes as these studies mostly focus on inadequate models. Being naturally immunodeficient, the chick embryo may receive cells derived from tumour tissues of cancer patients and/or model cell lines and serve as a clinically relevant in vivo model. The assessment of the treatment response in the chick ChorioAllantoic Membrane (CAM) model can represent a useful screening tool for personalized medicine with the potential to improve patient management and treatment outcome. Destruction of the basement membrane can be easily visualized and tumour growth, invasion into the connective tissue, and metastasis can be accurately quantified in CAM assay, making CAM a valuable model for investigating cancer progression. In conclusion, the CAM assay is an attractive in vivo model that is simple, reproducible, and has many applications, including the study of tumour invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and screening for novel drugs.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.