Ethical considerations, cost, and time constraints have highlighted the need to develop alternatives to rodent in vivo models for evaluating drug candidates for cancer. The tumor chicken chorioallantoic membrane (TCAM) model provides an affordable and fast assay that permits direct visualization of tumor progression. Tumors from multiple species including rodents and human cell lines can be engrafted. In this study, we engrafted several tumor models onto the CAM and demonstrated that the TCAM model is an alternative to mouse models for preliminary cancer drug efficacy testing and toxicity analysis. Tumor cells were deposited onto CAM, and then grown for up to an additional 10 days before chronic treatments were administered. The drug response of anticancer therapies was screened in 12 tumor cell lines including glioblastoma, melanoma, breast, prostate, colorectal, liver, and lung cancer. Tumor-bearing eggs and tumor-bearing mice had a similar chemotherapy response (cisplatin and temozolomide) in four human and mouse tumor models. We also demonstrated that lethality observed in chicken embryos following chemotherapies such as cisplatin and cyclophosphamide were associated with corresponding side-effects in mice with body weight loss. According to our work, TCAM represents a relevant alternative model to mice in early preclinical oncology screening, providing insights for both the efficacy and the toxicity of anticancer drugs.
Keywords: 3Rs guidelines; chicken embryos; oncology; preclinical models; tumor CAM.