Melanoma xenotransplant on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane: a complex biological model for the study of cancer cell behaviour.

The globally increasing incidence of cancer, including melanoma, requires novel therapeutic strategies. Development of successful novel drugs is based on clear identification of the target mechanisms responsible for the disease progression. The specific cancer microenvironment represents a critically important aspect of cancer biology, which cannot be properly studied in simplistic cell culture conditions. Among other traditional options, the study of melanoma cell growth on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane offers several significant advantages. This model offers increased complexity compared to usual in silico culture models and still remains financially affordable. Using this model, we studied the growth of three established human melanoma cell lines: A2058, BLM, G361. The combination of histology, immunohistochemistry with the application of human-specific antibodies, intravascular injection of contrast material such as filtered Indian ink, Mercox solution and phosphotungstic acid, and X-ray micro-CT and live-cell monitoring was employed. Melanoma cells spread well on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane. However, invasion into the stroma of the chorioallantoic membrane and the limb primordium graft was rare. The melanoma cells also significantly influenced the architecture of the blood vessel network, resulting in the orientation of the vessels to the site of the tumour cell inoculation. The system of melanoma cell culture on the chorioallantoic membrane is suitable for the study of melanoma cell growth, particularly of rearrangement of the host vascular pattern after cancer cell implantation. The system also has promising potential for further development.

Natural or intended mummification? Specific case of a child mummy.

The aim of this work was to document and analyze an exceptionally preserved mummified body of a six-year-old boy found in a family tomb in Skalná, Czech Republic. The boy died of scarlet fever in 1887, and was buried under ground in a cemetery in an unknown coffin shortly after death. His parents exhumed his cadaver and entombed it in the family crypt in two tin coffins a year later. This secondary burial and violent opening of the coffins in the end of the World War II leaving the body exposed to external climatic conditions led to its natural (spontaneous) dry mummification. The computed tomography scan of the corpse showed that the majority of internal organs were well preserved. And surprisingly, parts of the central nervous system estimated to be about 70% of the original size with distinguishable neural structures. We tested the cerebellum, tentorium and hair for mercury and arsenic, and the body was assessed by a forensic examiner for possible signs of an artificial embalming, and pathology. We did not confirm the hypothesis of the eventual preservation using the salts of mercury and/or arsenic or other fixation common for embalming in the 1800s. The anthropogenic mummification can be excluded due to the presence of fly larvae, historical records confirmed the burial of the individual right after death, and the different degree of organs condition. It appears that the unique preservation of the mummy and its internal organs was most likely caused by stable conditions of the environment.