The exploration of B cell maturation antigen expression in plasma cell dyscrasias beyond multiple myeloma

BACKGROUND: B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) targeted immunotherapies have demonstrated remarkable clinical efficacy in multiple myeloma (MM). Here, we evaluated the BCMA expression in MM and other plasma cell dyscrasias (PCDs), hoping to provide a potential treatment strategy for the relapsed/refractory PCDs besides MM. METHODS: From January 2018 to August 2021, 377 patients with PCDs were enrolled in this study, including 334 MM, 21 systemic light chain amyloidosis (AL), 5 POEMS syndrome, 14 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and three monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS). The membrane-bound BCMA expression measured by multiparameter flow cytometry was defined by BCMA positivity rate and the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). RESULTS: The patients with MM had a median BCMA positive rate of 88.55% (range, 0.2% - 99.9%) and median BCMA MFI of 1281 (range, 109 - 48586). While the median BCMA positive rate in other PCDs was 55.8% (6.2% -98.9%), and the median BCMA MFI was 553 (182- 5930). BCMA expression level was negatively associated with hemoglobin concentration in multivariate analysis in terms of BCMA positive rate and MFI. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, BCMA has the potential to be a therapeutic target for other PCDs besides MM. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-023-10591-1.