B-cell maturation antigen (dBCMA) (dBCMA)

dBCMA (modified B-cell maturation antigen) is an engineered, non-shedding variant of the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) designed to serve as a synthetic target for immunotherapy in solid tumors [2, 7]. While native BCMA is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF17) primarily expressed on plasma cells, dBCMA is modified to remove the proteolytic cleavage site, preventing it from being shed as soluble BCMA (sBCMA) which could otherwise act as a decoy for therapies [2]. In the "Flare" platform developed by Dispatch Bio, dBCMA is delivered to solid tumor cells via a tumor-selective oncolytic virus (e.g., DV-10), effectively "painting" the tumor surface with a target that is not naturally present [1, 8]. This approach allows the repurposing of potent, clinically validated BCMA-directed therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells (e.g., idecabtagene vicleucel or zevorcabtagene autoleucel), to treat solid tumors of epithelial origin [2, 7]. By forcing the expression of dBCMA alongside immune-stimulatory factors like IL-18 and CXCL9, the strategy aims to overcome the lack of specific antigens and the immunosuppressive microenvironment characteristic of solid cancers [2, 8].

Other names

Flare antigenModified B-cell maturation antigenNon-shedding BCMASynthetic BCMA antigenTNFRSF17 (modified)

Viral-mediated delivery and surface expression of a modified, non-shedding BCMA antigen on solid tumor cells to facilitate recognition and lysis by BCMA-directed CAR-T cell therapies.