Extended organ culture of tumor cell lines with chick embryonic tissues

Summary An organ culture method has been developed in which human tumor cells and chick embryonic tissues are cocultured on agar platforms surrounded by replaceable liquid medium. This simple system permits such cultures to remain viable for up to 60 d; the extended culture period allows the tumor cells to invade, organize, and differentiate and to form microscopic tumors in embryonic tissues similar to tumors formed by the tumor cells in vivo in nude mice. These microtumors can also be examined for tumor-associated antigen expression by conventional immunoperoxidase techniques.