Selection of metastatic variants from heterogeneous tumor cell lines using the chicken chorioallantoic membrane and nude mouse.

The chicken chorioallantoic membrane was used to select variant tumor cell subpopulations from the murine melanoma B16-BL6 and the rat glioma C6 cell lines. Tumor cells were deposited on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane of eggs 10 days postfertilization. Upon hatching, chickens were autopsied, and organs were removed, minced, and implanted s.c. in C57BL/6J mice (for melanoma) or nude mice (for glioma). A glioma growing s.c. from a chicken lung implant metastasized to the liver of the recipient nude mouse, and a melanoma growing s.c. from a chicken liver implant metastasized to the lung of its murine host. The s.c. melanoma contained distinct black and gray areas. Cell lines were established from the s.c. glioma (C6-V-1), from a metastasis of the C6-V-1 tumor (C6-V-2), and from the black and gray regions of the melanoma. Marked differences in lung colonization were seen 14 days after 1 X 10(5) parent BL6, Black, or Gray cultured cells were injected by tail vein into C57BL mice. In four separate experiments, fewer than 15 lung foci per mouse were found when BL6 cells were injected, whereas 100 to several hundred lung melanoma colonies per mouse were observed when Black or Gray cells were inoculated. Four of 18 nude mice bearing the s.c. C6-V-1 glioma developed liver metastases; no metastases have been observed in 15 nude mice bearing the s.c. parent C6 glioma. Significant differences in sensitivities to antineoplastic drugs were demonstrated between parent and variant glioma cell lines. The 33-fold increase in sensitivity to vincristine determined for C6-V-1 cells compared to parent C6 cells was particularly striking. Results suggest that the use of the chicken chorioallantoic membrane in situ, together with the nude mouse, might provide a method suitable for the selection and isolation of aggressive variants in heterogeneous human tumors.