Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) comprise targeting antibodies armed with potent small-molecule payloads. ADCs are generated to target different receptors on the anaplastic large cell lymphoma line L-82, but delivered the same cytotoxic payload (monomethyl auristatin E, MMAE), and the intracellular concentration of released MMAE correlated with in vitro ADC-mediated cytotoxicity independent of target expression or drug:antibody ratios. LC-MS is used to measure the concentration of MMAE in a parallel cohort of L-82 tumors with an identical treatment regimen. Although tumor volume is not different among treatment groups 3 days after dose, the intratumoral MMAE measurement reveals two patterns. First, intratumoral MMAE concentration increases proportionally to the ADC dose, which correspondes to stronger antitumor activity. Second, the intratumoral MMAE concentration obtained from treatment with both cOKT9-vcMMAE and cAC10-vcMMAE is similar at each dose, consistent with the observation that tumor responded similarly to these two ADCs.