Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) combine the benefits of both therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and potent small molecule cytotoxic drugs.
These moieties are connected through linkers that should be stable within systemic circulation, while maintaining the ability to cleave within the mAb-targeted cells to release highly specific payloads.
In addition to the targeted killing of antigen-positive tumor cells, some ADCs appear to have significant off-target effects, causing neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, which have necessitated some clinical trials being terminated early. However, the success of some ADCs in treating diseases has stimulated the continued research of these constructs. We have two distinct assay platforms to assess cytotoxicity caused by ADCs.
