Trial reportNature medicine2026
BCMA-directed mRNA CAR T cell therapy for myasthenia gravis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial.
Trial report in Nature medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04146051 (Autologous T-Cells Expressing A Chimeric Antigen Receptor Directed To B-Cell Maturation Antigen), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Autologous T-Cells Expressing A Chimeric Antigen Receptor Directed To B-Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA) In Patients With Generalized Myasthenia Gravis (MG)
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Healthcare costs and burden of myasthenia gravis for patients and society: a systematic review.Journal of neurology · 2026Pooled it
- BCMA-directed mRNA CAR-T cell therapy for myasthenia gravis: exploratory biomarker analysis of a placebo-controlled phase 2b trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Towards mRNA therapeutics 2.0.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Long-term outcomes of anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy in refractory myasthenia gravis: A case series.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Review
- Bispecific chimeric autoantibody receptor T cells eliminate acetylcholine receptor-specific B cells in myasthenia gravis models.Nature communications · 2026Article
- CAR T cell therapy beyond cancer: current status, challenges and future prospects.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- [From CAR-T to T-cell engagers : New T-cell-based treatment in rheumatology].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2026Review
- Two Classes of Protein Therapeutics: Why Dose-Response Architecture Defines the Boundary of mRNA Medicines.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- Lipid nanoparticle mRNA delivery preserves CAR T cell cytotoxicity and limits exhaustion compared to electroporation.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026Article
- Self-amplifying RNA-based CAR T cell therapy with enhanced duration and multi-genic logic functions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in neuroimmune diseases: mechanistic rationale, clinical experience, and translational challenges.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Research Progress in Pharmacological Targeted Therapy for Myasthenia Gravis.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Review
- Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy in autoimmune neurological disease: current status of efficacy and safety.BMJ neurology open · 2026Review
- Myasthenia gravis complicated with autoimmune encephalitis: a review.Frontiers in neurologyReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
31 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is driven by the secretion of autoantibodies from pathogenic B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-expressing plasma cells. In this phase 2b randomized, controlled, double-blind trial, we evaluated Descartes-08, an autologous BCMA-directed mRNA chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, in patients with generalized MG (gMG). Patients (n = 26) were randomly allocated to receive once-weekly intravenous infusions of Descartes-08 (n = 15) or placebo (n = 11) over 6 weeks. The primary endpoint was a ≥5-point improvement in the MG Composite (MGC) score at month 3. Secondary endpoints included the mean change from baseline in MGC, MG Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL) and Quantitative MG (QMG) scores by month 12. At month 3, the proportion of patients achieving a ≥5-point improvement in the MGC score was significantly higher for those treated with Descartes-08 compared to placebo in the overall population (66.7% (n = 10/15) versus 27.3% (n = 3/11), P = 0.0472) and in a subpopulation of those positive for autoantibodies to the acetylcholine receptor (63.6% (n = 7/11) versus 12.5% (n = 1/8), P = 0.0258). For patients treated with Descartes-08, the changes from baseline in mean MGC, MG-ADL and QMG scores at month 4 were -7.1, -5.5 and -4.8, respectively, with 83.0% of patients achieving a sustained and clinically meaningful response at month 12. Notably, 33.0% of patients achieved minimum symptom expression (MSE) (MG-ADL score ≤1) by month 6, which was sustained through month 12. Among biologic-naive patients, 55.60% achieved MSE by month 6, which was maintained through month 12 without additional treatment. Descartes-08 was generally safe and well tolerated. Infusion-related reactions were the most common adverse events reported (Descartes-08, 80.0% (n = 16/20); placebo, 56.3% (n = 9/16)). In summary, a single course of six once-weekly infusions of Descartes-08 was well tolerated and resulted in sustained clinically meaningful responses among patients with gMG. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04146051 .
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.