The Hidden Variable in Your ADC Experiment: Why Isotype Controls Must Match the Whole Molecule
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have made remarkable progress in recent years, combining the specificity of targeted antibodies with the potent cell-killing ability of cytotoxic payloads. As these molecules grow more structurally complex, the design of appropriate experimental controls must keep pace. A persistent challenge in ADC development is the continued use of standard unconjugated isotype controls in functional assays, including cytotoxicity, binding, and internalization, a practice that can produce misleading results when non-specific payload activity is misinterpreted as target-specific engagement. In this blog, we discuss the limitations of standard isotype controls in ADC experiments, outline the critical components of a properly [...]
