BCMA is a survival receptor on plasma cells, and the target that made CAR-T and bispecifics work in multiple myeloma. This dossier gathers the 7 products (6 approved), 11 trials, 0 pathways and 3 resistance routes in the corpus that involve it, with external identifiers so it can be joined to UniProt, ChEMBL, Open Targets and the rest of biology.
Biology
BCMA is a TNF receptor family member with APRIL and BAFF as ligands. Soluble BCMA can act as a decoy.
- Multiple myeloma
Elsewhere: identifiers and databases
Built from HGNC, Ensembl, UniProt and ChEMBL idsHow common it is, by cancer
Full matrix →| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple myeloma | >95% | Plasma-cell surface expression | Wikipedia |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Products by modality and phase
Browse products →| Modality | Approved | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Cell therapy 3 | ||
| T-cell engager 3 | — | |
| ADC 1 | — |
Trials
Evidence ranking →| Trial | Phase | Status | Setting | Result | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MajesTEC-3 NCT05083169 | 3 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after 1-3 prior lines: teclistamab + daratumumab vs Dara-Pd or Dara-Vd | 36-month PFS 83.4% vs 29.7%; HR ~0.17. | |
| DREAMM-7 NCT04246047 | 3 | Positive | Relapsed myeloma after ≥1 line: belantamab-Vd vs Dara-Vd | PFS 36.6 vs 13.4 months, HR 0.41; OS HR 0.58. | |
| DREAMM-8 NCT04484623 | 3 | Positive | Relapsed myeloma after ≥1 line including lenalidomide: belantamab-Pd vs Pom-Vd | PFS HR 0.52. | |
| CARTITUDE-4 NCT04181827 | 3 | Positive | Lenalidomide-refractory myeloma after 1-3 prior lines: cilta-cel vs Pom-Vd or Dara-Pd | PFS HR 0.26; OS HR 0.55. | |
| KarMMa-3 NCT03651128 | 3 | Positive | Triple-class-exposed myeloma after 2-4 prior lines: ide-cel vs standard regimens | PFS 13.3 vs 4.4 months, HR 0.49. | |
| CARTITUDE-5 NCT04923893 | 3 | Recruiting | Newly diagnosed myeloma, transplant not planned: VRd → cilta-cel vs VRd → Rd | ||
| iMMagine-1 NCT05396885 | 2 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after ≥4 lines: anito-cel single infusion | ORR 97%. | |
| MagnetisMM-3 NCT04649359 | 2 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after ≥3 lines, BCMA-naive: elranatamab monotherapy | ORR 61%. | |
| LINKER-MM1 NCT03761108 | 1/2 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after ≥3 lines: linvoseltamab 200 mg | ORR 70%, ≥CR 45%. | |
| MajesTEC-1 NCT04557098 | 1/2 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after ≥3 lines: teclistamab monotherapy | ORR 63%, ≥CR 39%. | |
| CARTITUDE-1 NCT03548207 | 1/2 | Positive | Relapsed/refractory myeloma after ≥3 lines, triple-class exposed: cilta-cel single infusion | ORR 98%; ~33% progression-free at 5 years without maintenance. |
Resistance routes that involve this target
Unaddressed routes →Deletion or mutation removes or alters the epitope; more common after bispecifics than CAR-T.
- Switch to GPRC5D-directed therapy (talquetamab, GPRC5D CAR-T) or FcRH5
Prior lines, high tumour burden, and continuous bispecific dosing exhaust T cells; CAR-T products from heavily pretreated patients expand poorly.
- Earlier-line use (CARTITUDE-4, MajesTEC-3); fixed-duration or less frequent bispecific dosing
Shed BCMA binds drug in circulation.
- Gamma-secretase inhibitors to reduce shedding (trials)
Pathways where it is a node
Pathway-to-drug matrix →No pathway diagram carries this target as a node.
Companion diagnostics and assays
Assay registry →No companion diagnostic in the registry measures this target.
Preclinical models
All models →| Cell line | Identifiers | Why it is used |
|---|---|---|
| MM.1S | CVCL_8792 · ACH-000763 | BCMA-high; luciferase derivatives for in vivo CAR-T imaging. |
| NCI-H929 | CVCL_1600 · ACH-000050 | BCMA-positive. |
| RPMI 8226 | CVCL_0014 · ACH-000817 | BCMA-positive. |
| U266 | CVCL_0566 · ACH-000626 | BCMA-lower comparator. |
| KMS-11 | CVCL_2989 · ACH-000714 | BCMA-positive; BCMA knock-out derivatives model antigen loss. |
- Vk*MYC (Sporadic MYC in germinal-centre B cells) Chesi et al., Cancer Cell 2008
Open questions
All open questions →- 01
In what order should BCMA CAR-T, BCMA bispecifics and GPRC5D-directed therapy be given, and does antigen loss after one preclude the next?
clinicalclinicWhy unresolved. CARTITUDE-4 and MajesTEC data cover single lines; biallelic TNFRSF17 loss after bispecifics is described and T-cell fitness falls with each line, so sequencing changes outcomes in ways no trial has compared.
What would answer it. Randomised sequencing trials and registries capturing BCMA and GPRC5D expression and T-cell fitness at each switch.
Source: CARTITUDE-4, NEJM 2023
Ideas and companies
Key papers and the live literature
Preprints →- CARTITUDE-4: cilta-cel CAR-T versus standard combinations after one to three prior lines of myeloma therapy · New England Journal of Medicine 2023
- KarMMa-3: ide-cel CAR-T versus standard regimens in triple-class-exposed relapsed myeloma · New England Journal of Medicine 2023
- MagnetisMM-3: elranatamab, a second BCMA bispecific, with a switch to fortnightly dosing after response · Nature Medicine 2023
- MajesTEC-1: teclistamab, an off-the-shelf BCMA bispecific antibody, in heavily pretreated myeloma · New England Journal of Medicine 2022
- CARTITUDE-1: cilta-cel, a BCMA CAR-T, in heavily pretreated myeloma · The Lancet 2021
Query for this target: (TITLE:"BCMA" OR ABSTRACT:"BCMA" OR TITLE:"TNFRSF17" OR ABSTRACT:"TNFRSF17") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about BCMA, not a curated reading list.
Export
The dossier as machine-readable JSON: identifiers from HGNC, Ensembl, UniProt and ChEMBL, products with status, trials, pathways, hotspots, open questions and assays. The full entity record is in the open API at /api/v1/entities/bcma.json. Licence CC BY 4.0.