Development of a quantitative, cell-line based assay to measure ADCC activity mediated by therapeutic antibodies

► Consistent assessment of ADCC activity of therapeutic antibodies is technically challenging due to donor-dependent variation of primary effector cells. ► Here we report on the development of a technically convenient quantitative assay based on genetically engineered effector cell lines. ► The assay system is highly reproducible and exhibits the hallmarks of traditional ADCC assays based on PBMCs. ► We demonstrate a high sensitivity of the assay to even small changes in antibody fucosylation.