16] Use of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) assay in basic and clinical immunology

Abstract

Publisher Summary The broad spectrum of effector cells that can mediate antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), combined with the occurrence of serum antibodies against various types of target cells or target determinants in various experimental and clinical conditions, suggests that ADCC may play an important role in resistance to neoplastic, infectious, and protozan diseases. This chapter discusses the use of ADCC assay in basic and clinical immunology. The chapter describes and discusses a short-term 51 Cr release ADCC assay using human purified mononuclear phagocytes or the human U937 monocyte-like cell line as effector cells against hapten-modified antibody-coated target cells. This technique can be readily adapted to various ADCC systems employing effector cells from different tissues and species, different antibodies, and target cells. The use of hapten-modified target cells facilitates a standardization of the ADCC assay and enables to compare the cytotoxic activities of an effector cell population against different target cells (e.g., erythroid versus lymphoid) modified with the same hapten and coated with the same antiserum.