Metastatic potential of MDA435 and Hep2 cell lines in chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model

Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane model is a very sensitive assay for s tudying metastasis in vivo. In this organism, tissue barriers provide a rea l support to demonstrate the infiltration pathway of two human tumoral cell stains: a line of breast adenocarcinoma (MDA435), and a line of larynx epi dermoid carcinoma (Hep2). We studied the metastatic potential of these cell s to migrate from the upper chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) to the lower CAM , using as marker a human p53 primer, known for flanking exclusively a huma n region of exon 8. Our results show that both cell lines possess the abili ty to migrate from the inoculation site (on the upper CAM) to distant sites of the CAM (lower CAM). A difference in the pattern of migration among the two cell lines was also observed. While Hep2 cells showed a uniform migrat ion from the inoculation site, MDA435 cell line showed a different migratio n pattern consistent with the idea of two different populations within the same cell line.