A Sensitive Method to Monitor Ectodomain Shedding of Ligands of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor

All ligands of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are made as membrane anchored precursors that can be proteolytically processed and released from the plasma membrane. This process, which is referred to as protein ectodomain shedding, is emerging as a key regulator of the function of EGFR ligands. In light of the important roles of EGFR signaling in development and disease, it will be important to understand more about the regulation of proteolytic processing of EGFR ligands. This chapter describes a sensitive and semiquantitative method to measure ectodomain shedding of EGFR ligands that was designed to facilitate studies of this process in cells.