The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane as an in vivo experimental model to study multiple myeloma

The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) has long been used as an in vivo assay for the study of tumor angiogenesis because when tumor grafts are placed at day 6-10 days of incubation the chick's immunocompetent system is not fully developed and the conditions for rejection have not been yet established. All studies for mammalian neoplasms, including multiple myeloma, have utilized tumor cell lines, tumor bioptic specimens, cell suspensions derived from tumors, mouse tumor xenografts bioptic specimens. CAM can also be used to study the effects of anti-angiogenic molecules on tumor cell suspensions of tumor bioptic specimens. This review article summarizes and discussed our experience concerning the use of the CAM to study multiple myeloma.