Antibody/ligand-target receptor internalization assay protocol using fresh human or murine tumor ex vivo samples

Abstract

We describe an EGF ligand internalization assay using fresh patient tumor biopsies to determine how antigen targets will be trafficked before patients receive mAb treatment. This protocol facilitates a sensitive and reproducible indication as to mAbs surface retention times during treatment. EGF uptake protocols can also be used to analyze EGFR heterogeneity and localization of EGFR in both tumor and xenograft tissue. The technology can be adapted to analyze other receptors such as PD-L1 for which methods are provided. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Joseph et\ua0al. (2019) and Chew et\ua0al. (2020)