Longitudinal bioluminescence imaging to monitor breast tumor growth and treatment response using the chick chorioallantoic membrane model

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 17192
• Main Authors: Javed, Sumreen, Soukhtehzari, Sepideh, Fernandes, Nazarine, Williams, Karla C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/67; 631/67/1347; 631/67/2328; Angiogenesis; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - metabolism; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - pharmacology; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Animals; Antiangiogenic agents; Axitinib; Bevacizumab; Bevacizumab - metabolism; Bioluminescence; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Chick Embryo; Chorioallantoic membrane; Chorioallantoic Membrane - metabolism; Drug screening; Embryos; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; multidisciplinary; Neovascularization, Pathologic - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tumor cell lines; Tumors; Vascularization
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20854-9

The development of successful treatment regimens for breast cancer requires strong pre-clinical data generated in physiologically relevant pre-clinical models. Here we report the development of the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model to study tumor growth and angiogenesis using breast cancer cell lines. MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 tumor cell lines were engrafted onto the chick embryo CAM to study tumor growth and treatment response. Tumor growth was evaluated through bioluminescence imaging and a significant increase in tumor size and vascularization was found over a 9-day period. We then evaluated the impact of anti-angiogenic drugs, axitinib and bevacizumab, on tumor growth and angiogenesis. Drug treatment significantly reduced tumor vascularization and size. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the chick embryo CAM is a clinically relevant model to monitor therapeutic response in breast cancer and can be used as a platform for drug screening to evaluate not only gross changes in tumor burden but physiological processes such as angiogenesis.