The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane: An immune privileged site for tumor transplantation

The development of the immune system is intertwined with tumor biology through a dynamic process called tumor immunoediting, where the immune system initially eliminates or controls tumor cells but also acts as a selective pressure, fostering the survival and growth of less immunogenic variants. The most used animal models for immune-oncological research are xenograft models, where human cancer cell lines are transplanted into immunodeficient mice, and syngeneic models, where mouse-derived cancer cell lines are transplanted into immunocompetent mice. The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) xenograft assay is a direct replacement and is less expensive than the mouse xenograft and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, mainly used to assess the multiple factors involved in the development of malignant tumors (transformation and invasion), how they metastasize, and their response to different types of treatments.