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Development of a green fluorescent protein metastatic-cancer chick-embryo drug-screen model

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Abstract

The chick-embryo model has been an important tool to study tumor growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis. However, an imageable model with a genetic fluorescent tag in the growing and spreading cancer cells that is stable over time has not been developed. We report here the development of such an imageable fluorescent chick-embryo metastatic cancer model with the use of green fluorescent protein (GFP). Lewis lung carcinoma cells, stably expressing GFP, were injected on the 12th day of incubation in the chick embryo. GFP-Lewis lung carcinoma metastases were visualized by fluorescence, after seven days additional incubation, in the brain, heart, and sternum of the developing chick embryo, with the most frequent site being the brain. The combination of streptokinase and gemcitabine was evaluated in this GFP metastatic model. Twelve-day-old chick embryos were injected intravenously with GFP-Lewis lung cancer cells, along with these two agents either alone or in combination. The streptokinase-gemcitabine combination inhibited metastases at all sites. The effective dose of gemcitabine was found to be 10 mg/kg and streptokinase 2000 IU per embryo. The data in this report suggest that this new stably fluorescent imageable metastatic-cancer chick-embryo model will enable rapid screening of new antimetastatic agents.

Abbreviation: GFP — green fluorescent protein

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Third Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Vladimir Bobek, Daniela Pinterova & Katarina Kolostova

  2. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jiri Plachy & Michael Boubelik

  3. AntiCancer, Inc., San Diego, California, USA

    Ping Jiang, Meng Yang & Robert M. Hoffman

Authors
  1. Vladimir Bobek
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  2. Jiri Plachy
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  3. Daniela Pinterova
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  4. Katarina Kolostova
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  5. Michael Boubelik
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  6. Ping Jiang
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  7. Meng Yang
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  8. Robert M. Hoffman
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Correspondence to Robert M. Hoffman.

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Bobek, V., Plachy, J., Pinterova, D. et al. Development of a green fluorescent protein metastatic-cancer chick-embryo drug-screen model. Clin Exp Metastasis 21, 347–352 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIN.0000046138.58210.31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIN.0000046138.58210.31

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