A Flow Cytometry-Based Assay for the Evaluation of Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC) in Cancer Cells

The development of new therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for cancer therapy will rise in the following years. The evaluation of biological activity of mAbs is required during drug development and during drug production as quality control test. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a desirable activity of anticancer mAbs. Here, we describe a flow cytometry-based method to quantify ADCC that combines the staining of cancer cells, effector cells, and dead cells, with specific dyes. This method is inexpensive, has low background, and avoids the use of radioisotopes.