Ancheta L, Shramm PA, Lappi DA (2017) Method for screening neuronal tumor cell surface markers for high specificity and rapid internalization as potential oncologic treatments. Neuroscience 2017 Abstracts 612.11 / SS46. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, DC.
Summary: Targeted cancer therapies are drugs or other substances that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules involved in the growth, progression, and spread of the tumor. These therapies are often cytostatic; they block tumor cell proliferation as opposed to chemotherapy that kills the cells. A primary approach to identify potential targets is the ability to compromise a ligand/receptor relationship that causes tumor cell proliferation. There are now many examples of the use of antibodies in tumor therapy to cause a breakdown in that relationship. In clinical use against brain tumors are antibodies to cell-surface EGFR, VEGFR, PDGFR, and c-kit. These work by down-regulation of the receptor by antibody-mediated internalization. It is crucial for development of a targeted therapy to have a method to determine the suitability of an antibody to cause internalization rapidly and completely. Here we describe a method for the efficient determination of internalization of cell surface molecules by antibodies: a cytotoxicity assay utilizing an antibody labeling method to streamline the process of multiple candidate screening. Cells are chosen that have significant levels of expression of the desired marker and the assay readout is definitive: cell death is demonstrated in 72 hours. This method is designed for the rapid screening of multiple antibodies for specificity and internalization in neuronal tumor cells to explore antibody candidates as therapeutics in a quick and reproducible manner.
Related Products: Fab-pHast human (Cat. #PH-01)