Biotinylated BCMA Fc&Avi Tag Protein, Human

BCMA (The B-cell maturation antigen), alsodesignated as TNFRSF17, belongs to the tumor necrosis factor receptorsuperfamily, which is a family of cytokine receptors. BCMA is encoded by a2.92-kb TNFRSF17 gene located on the short arm of chromosome 16 (16p13.13) andcomposed of 3 exons separated by 2 introns. There are four natural splicevariants of human BCMA that present with different receptor binding affinities,membrane-anchoring ability, and intracellular domain signaling. BCMA mainligands are the cytokines B-cell activating factor and a proliferation-inducingligand. The interaction between BCMA and its ligands activates the NF-κBsignaling pathway that plays an important role in B-cell proliferation andmaturation and is essential for the survival of long-lived bone marrow plasmacells. BCMA is expressed preferentially on mature B cells and has minimalexpression on hematopoietic stem cells or other cell types. The BCMA hasemerged as a central target in multiple myeloma (MM). In preclinical studies,overexpression of BCMA and the interaction with is ligand, aproliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), was found to promote MM progression invivo and augment MM cell growth and survival through induction of multiplesignaling cascades, including protein kinase B (AKT), MAPK, and nuclear factor(NF)-κB. Additionally, BCMA has been shown to be solubilized at high levels inserum of patients with MM (sBCMA). This form of sBCMA binds to B-cellactivating factor (BAFF). The role of BAFF is to stimulate normal B-cell andplasma cell development; however, this functioning is prevented when it isbound by BCMA in the serum, thereby leading to decreased polyclonal immunoglobulinlevels in patients with MM.