Methods for Measuring Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity In Vitro

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a relevant characteristic to measure for a number of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) under development. ADCC is a mechanism by which antibody-opsonized, infected, or cancerous cells are destroyed by FcγRIII (CD16)-expressing effector cells. Here we describe three methods that can be used to quantify the ADCC activity of mAbs by measuring distinct aspects of the ADCC mechanism.