Modified B-cell maturation antigen (dBCMA) (dBCMA)

Modified B-cell maturation antigen (dBCMA) is a synthetic, engineered version of the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA, also known as TNFRSF17) designed to serve as a universal target for solid tumor immunotherapy. Unlike native BCMA, which is primarily expressed on plasma cells and frequently shed from the cell surface, dBCMA is engineered to remain permanently anchored to the tumor cell membrane by lacking the natural shedding domain. It is also designed to be immunologically inert, meaning it does not trigger downstream biological signaling within the tumor cell. This synthetic antigen is delivered to solid tumor cells via a tumor-selective oncolytic virus (such as Dispatch Bio's DV-10) in a therapeutic strategy known as "antigen painting" or the "Flare" platform. Once expressed on the surface of solid tumor cells, dBCMA acts as a highly specific target for existing BCMA-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, such as idecabtagene vicleucel or zevorcabtagene autoleucel. This approach effectively converts "invisible" solid tumors into targets that can be recognized and eliminated by the immune system, bypassing the historical challenge of finding unique, high-fidelity targets in solid cancers.

Other names

Synthetic BCMA antigenFlare antigenDe-shedded BCMAModified TNFRSF17Universal synthetic antigen

A tumor-selective oncolytic virus (DV-10) infects solid tumor cells and delivers the genetic sequence for dBCMA. The tumor cells then express the synthetic dBCMA antigen on their surface, which is subsequently recognized and targeted by BCMA-directed CAR T-cells, leading to tumor cell lysis.