{"entity":{"id":"bcma","kind":"target","name":"BCMA","aka":[],"tldr":"BCMA is a survival receptor on plasma cells, and the target that made CAR-T and bispecifics work in multiple myeloma.","summary":"B-cell maturation antigen (TNFRSF17) is a TNF receptor family member with APRIL and BAFF as ligands that sustains plasma cell survival, and it is present on over 95% of myeloma cells with little expression elsewhere. It is targeted by CAR-T (ciltacabtagene, idecabtagene), bispecifics (teclistamab, elranatamab, linvoseltamab), and the ADC belantamab mafodotin, re-approved in 2025 on the strength of DREAMM-7/8. Soluble BCMA shed into the blood can act as a decoy, and antigen loss or downregulation is one mechanism of relapse. The open questions are how to sequence these modalities and how to manage infections in patients with prolonged plasma cell depletion. The simple version is the plasma cell survival receptor that made CAR-T and bispecifics work in multiple myeloma.","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-cell_maturation_antigen","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-cell_maturation_antigen"}],"tags":["car-t-target","t-cell-engager-target"],"related":["bcma-expression"],"cancers":["multiple-myeloma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["gc012f","azd4045","nxc-201-car-t"],"companies":["arcellx","cullinan-therapeutics","kelonia-therapeutics","poseida-therapeutics"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["nct05594797"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"TNFRSF17","role":[],"sources":[],"specificity":"lineage-antigen","distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Lineage antigen shared with normal B-cells and dendritic cells: HPA blood lineage group enriched at or above 25 nTPM, and 14 cell-killing or cell-finding medicines (GC012F, AZD4045, NXC-201 CAR-T and more) aim at it, so normal cells of the lineage are hit too. HPA TNFRSF17: RNA tissue enhanced (intestine 27 nTPM, lymphoid tissue 45 nTPM, stomach 1 23 nTPM); blood lineage group enriched (B-cells 125 nTPM, dendritic cells 104 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high. Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Multiple myeloma); Open Targets associates it with 1 specific cancer type at or above 0.5 (plasma cell myeloma). (Rule 5 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas TNFRSF17 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000048462-TNFRSF17/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Human Protein Atlas TNFRSF17 pathology","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000048462-TNFRSF17/pathology","note":"patients per staining level per cancer type (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000048462 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000048462/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:11913","ensembl":"ENSG00000048462","uniprot":"Q02223","entrez":"608","firstDescribed":1992,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Laabi et al, EMBO J, 1992, \"A new gene, BCM, on chromosome 16 is fused to the interleukin 2 gene by a t(4;16)(q26;p13) translocation in a malignant T cell lymphoma\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1396583/","biology":"BCMA is a TNF receptor family member with APRIL and BAFF as ligands. Soluble BCMA can act as a decoy.","whereFound":["Multiple myeloma"],"targetClass":"surface-antigen","prevalence":[{"cancerId":"multiple-myeloma","pct":">95","measure":"Plasma-cell surface expression","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-cell_maturation_antigen"}]},"route":"/targets/bcma/","neighbours":{"biomarker":[{"id":"bcma-expression","kind":"biomarker","name":"BCMA expression","route":"/biomarkers/bcma-expression/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"multiple-myeloma","kind":"cancer","name":"Multiple myeloma","route":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/"},{"id":"plasma-cell-leukaemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Plasma cell leukaemia","route":"/cancers/plasma-cell-leukaemia/"},{"id":"myeloma-relapsed-refractory","kind":"cancer","name":"Relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma","route":"/cancers/myeloma-relapsed-refractory/"}],"drug":[{"id":"anitocabtagene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Anitocabtagene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/anitocabtagene-autoleucel/"},{"id":"azd0120","kind":"drug","name":"AZD0120","route":"/drugs/azd0120/"},{"id":"azd4045","kind":"drug","name":"AZD4045","route":"/drugs/azd4045/"},{"id":"belantamab-mafodotin","kind":"drug","name":"Belantamab mafodotin","route":"/drugs/belantamab-mafodotin/"},{"id":"ciltacabtagene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Ciltacabtagene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/ciltacabtagene-autoleucel/"},{"id":"elranatamab","kind":"drug","name":"Elranatamab","route":"/drugs/elranatamab/"},{"id":"equecabtagene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Equecabtagene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/equecabtagene-autoleucel/"},{"id":"gc012f","kind":"drug","name":"GC012F","route":"/drugs/gc012f/"},{"id":"idecabtagene-vicleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Idecabtagene vicleucel","route":"/drugs/idecabtagene-vicleucel/"},{"id":"isb-2001","kind":"drug","name":"ISB 2001","route":"/drugs/isb-2001/"},{"id":"linvoseltamab","kind":"drug","name":"Linvoseltamab","route":"/drugs/linvoseltamab/"},{"id":"nxc-201-car-t","kind":"drug","name":"NXC-201 CAR-T","route":"/drugs/nxc-201-car-t/"},{"id":"teclistamab","kind":"drug","name":"Teclistamab","route":"/drugs/teclistamab/"},{"id":"zevorcabtagene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Zevorcabtagene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/zevorcabtagene-autoleucel/"}],"company":[{"id":"arcellx","kind":"company","name":"Arcellx","route":"/companies/arcellx/"},{"id":"aurigene","kind":"company","name":"Aurigene Oncology","route":"/companies/aurigene/"},{"id":"cartesian-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Cartesian Therapeutics","route":"/companies/cartesian-therapeutics/"},{"id":"cullinan-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Cullinan Therapeutics","route":"/companies/cullinan-therapeutics/"},{"id":"glenmark","kind":"company","name":"Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (Ichnos Glenmark Innovation)","route":"/companies/glenmark/"},{"id":"heidelberg-pharma","kind":"company","name":"Heidelberg Pharma","route":"/companies/heidelberg-pharma/"},{"id":"kelonia-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Kelonia Therapeutics","route":"/companies/kelonia-therapeutics/"},{"id":"orna-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Orna Therapeutics (Eli Lilly)","route":"/companies/orna-therapeutics/"},{"id":"poseida-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Poseida Therapeutics","route":"/companies/poseida-therapeutics/"}],"trial":[{"id":"fumanba-1","kind":"trial","name":"FUMANBA-1","route":"/trials/fumanba-1/"},{"id":"nxc-201-mm","kind":"trial","name":"HBI0101 (NXC-201) multiple myeloma phase 1","route":"/trials/nxc-201-mm/"},{"id":"nct05594797","kind":"trial","name":"Human BCMA Targeted T Cells Injection（BCMA CAR-T）for Subjects With R/R MM","route":"/trials/nct05594797/"},{"id":"legend-2","kind":"trial","name":"LEGEND-2","route":"/trials/legend-2/"},{"id":"lummicar-1","kind":"trial","name":"LUMMICAR STUDY 1","route":"/trials/lummicar-1/"}],"pairing":[{"id":"bcma-then-gprc5d","kind":"pairing","name":"BCMA-directed therapy → GPRC5D-directed therapy","route":"/pairings/bcma-then-gprc5d/"}],"technology":[{"id":"adc","kind":"technology","name":"Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)","route":"/technologies/adc/"},{"id":"car-t","kind":"technology","name":"CAR-T cell therapy","route":"/technologies/car-t/"},{"id":"t-cell-engager","kind":"technology","name":"T-cell engagers (bispecific)","route":"/technologies/t-cell-engager/"}],"person":[{"id":"jesus-berdeja","kind":"person","name":"Jesús G. Berdeja","route":"/people/jesus-berdeja/"},{"id":"nikhil-munshi","kind":"person","name":"Nikhil C. Munshi","route":"/people/nikhil-munshi/"},{"id":"noopur-raje","kind":"person","name":"Noopur Raje","route":"/people/noopur-raje/"},{"id":"philippe-moreau","kind":"person","name":"Philippe Moreau","route":"/people/philippe-moreau/"},{"id":"polina-stepensky","kind":"person","name":"Polina Stepensky","route":"/people/polina-stepensky/"},{"id":"vincent-rajkumar","kind":"person","name":"S. Vincent Rajkumar","route":"/people/vincent-rajkumar/"},{"id":"saad-usmani","kind":"person","name":"Saad Z. Usmani","route":"/people/saad-usmani/"},{"id":"sagar-lonial","kind":"person","name":"Sagar Lonial","route":"/people/sagar-lonial/"},{"id":"li-zonghai","kind":"person","name":"Zonghai Li","route":"/people/li-zonghai/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-incentive-misalignment","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Incentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gains","route":"/bottlenecks/b-incentive-misalignment/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-fund-public-car-t-manufacturing","kind":"idea","name":"Hospital-based CAR-T manufacturing at cost through a public network","route":"/ideas/idea-fund-public-car-t-manufacturing/"},{"id":"idea-reg-point-of-care-cart-network","kind":"idea","name":"Hospital-made CAR-T under one shared regulatory master file","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-point-of-care-cart-network/"},{"id":"idea-moon-in-vivo-cart-generic-price","kind":"idea","name":"In vivo CAR-T manufactured and priced like a generic biologic","route":"/ideas/idea-moon-in-vivo-cart-generic-price/"},{"id":"idea-reg-open-source-lentiviral-vectors","kind":"idea","name":"Non-profit, open-licence lentiviral vectors and producer cell lines for CAR-T","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-open-source-lentiviral-vectors/"},{"id":"idea-bio1-adaptive-car-antigen-switch","kind":"idea","name":"Plan the second CAR-T target before the first one is lost","route":"/ideas/idea-bio1-adaptive-car-antigen-switch/"}],"collection":[{"id":"mmrf","kind":"collection","name":"Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)","route":"/collections/mmrf/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-cartitude-1-cilta-cel-lancet-2021","kind":"paper","name":"CARTITUDE-1: cilta-cel, a BCMA CAR-T, in heavily pretreated myeloma","route":"/key-papers/paper-cartitude-1-cilta-cel-lancet-2021/"},{"id":"paper-cartitude-4-cilta-cel-nejm-2023","kind":"paper","name":"CARTITUDE-4: cilta-cel CAR-T versus standard combinations after one to three prior lines of myeloma therapy","route":"/key-papers/paper-cartitude-4-cilta-cel-nejm-2023/"},{"id":"paper-nxc-201-hbi0101-asherie-haematologica-2023","kind":"paper","name":"Development and manufacture of novel locally produced anti-BCMA CAR T cells for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: results from a phase I clinical trial (HBI0101)","route":"/key-papers/paper-nxc-201-hbi0101-asherie-haematologica-2023/"},{"id":"paper-karmma-3-ide-cel-nejm-2023","kind":"paper","name":"KarMMa-3: ide-cel CAR-T versus standard regimens in triple-class-exposed relapsed myeloma","route":"/key-papers/paper-karmma-3-ide-cel-nejm-2023/"},{"id":"paper-magnetismm-3-elranatamab-natmed-2023","kind":"paper","name":"MagnetisMM-3: elranatamab, a second BCMA bispecific, with a switch to fortnightly dosing after response","route":"/key-papers/paper-magnetismm-3-elranatamab-natmed-2023/"},{"id":"paper-majestec-1-teclistamab-nejm-2022","kind":"paper","name":"MajesTEC-1: teclistamab, an off-the-shelf BCMA bispecific antibody, in heavily pretreated myeloma","route":"/key-papers/paper-majestec-1-teclistamab-nejm-2022/"}],"term":[{"id":"antigen","kind":"term","name":"Antigen","route":"/terms/antigen/"},{"id":"antigen-escape","kind":"term","name":"Antigen escape (antigen loss, lineage switch)","route":"/terms/antigen-escape/"},{"id":"b-cell","kind":"term","name":"B cell","route":"/terms/b-cell/"}],"institution":[{"id":"ccc-wuerzburg","kind":"institution","name":"Comprehensive Cancer Center Mainfranken, University Hospital Würzburg","route":"/institutions/ccc-wuerzburg/"},{"id":"hadassah","kind":"institution","name":"Hadassah Medical Center","route":"/institutions/hadassah/"},{"id":"hospital-clinic-barcelona","kind":"institution","name":"Hospital Clínic de Barcelona / IDIBAPS","route":"/institutions/hospital-clinic-barcelona/"},{"id":"12-de-octubre","kind":"institution","name":"Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre","route":"/institutions/12-de-octubre/"},{"id":"sant-orsola-bologna","kind":"institution","name":"IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Policlinico Sant'Orsola","route":"/institutions/sant-orsola-bologna/"},{"id":"union-hospital-wuhan","kind":"institution","name":"Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College","route":"/institutions/union-hospital-wuhan/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"resistance-routes-map","kind":"pathway","name":"Resistance routes: how a blocked pathway comes back","route":"/pathways/resistance-routes-map/"},{"id":"ubiquitin-proteasome-system","kind":"pathway","name":"Ubiquitin-proteasome system & protein homeostasis","route":"/pathways/ubiquitin-proteasome-system/"}]}}