Evidence mapPaperPMID 41514039Full record

Trial reportNature medicine2026

BCMA-directed mRNA CAR-T cell therapy for myasthenia gravis: exploratory biomarker analysis of a placebo-controlled phase 2b trial.

Renee R Fedak, Rachel N Ruggerie, Yufei Shan, Elizabeth J Curvino, Juliana F de Sousa, Shaji Daniel, Minhtran Ngo-Casi, Hafsa Kamboh, Tuan Vu, Hacer Durmuş and 19 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readClinical Trial, Phase IIMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

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 NCT07391605 (A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of Descartes-08 in Patients With Dermatomyositis and Antisynthetase Syndrome), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT07391605 phase2recruitingnot on this map

A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of Descartes-08 in Patients With Dermatomyositis and Antisynthetase Syndrome

TypeinterventionalSponsorCartesian TherapeuticsRan2026 to 2028Enrolled60ConditionsAntisynthetase SyndromeArmsDescartes-08, Placebo
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

29 authors.

Renee R FedakCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4284-9283
Rachel N RuggerieCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-2578-3028
Yufei ShanCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Elizabeth J CurvinoCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Juliana F de SousaCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Shaji DanielCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Minhtran Ngo-CasiCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Hafsa KambohCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Tuan VuUniversity of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0724-0210
Hacer DurmuşIstanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Tahseen MozaffarUniversity of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
James F HowardUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7136-8617
Emily P EnglishCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-1621-4669
Albina BensonCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Matthew T DuvernayCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Michael S SingerCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Murat V KalayogluCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Carsten BrunnCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Aaron BodanskyUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8943-8233
Mark S AndersonUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-4758
Joseph L DeRisiUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Samantha T GarciaUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
David J L YuUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Kelsey C ZornUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1227-2137
Metin KurtogluCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
Miloš D MiljkovićCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA.
C Andrew StewartCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA. andy.stewart@cartesiantx.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7936-447X
Christopher M JewellCartesian Therapeutics, Frederick, MD, USA. chris.jewell@cartesiantx.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6668-6928
MG-001 Study Team

Funding

Manufacturing RNA-based CAR T cells to combat autoantibody-associated autoimmune disorders (AAAD)R44NS137943 · CARTESIAN THERAPEUTICS, INC. · 2025 to 2025
$1.5M
Influence of NT5c1A antibodies on disease progression, clinical phenotype and blood and muscle biomarkers in sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis - A prospective evaluationR01AR078340 · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2025 to 2025
$360k
NIAMS NIH HHS R01 AR078340NINDS NIH HHS R44 NS115426NINDS NIH HHS R44 NS137943U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1R44NS115426U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1R44NS115426, 1R44NS137943U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1R44NS137943
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies have the potential to transform treatment of autoimmune disease by resetting the immune system. However, adoption of cell therapies in the autoimmune space is limited by hurdles such as inpatient administration, lymphodepletion and safety concerns around cytokine release syndrome and non-specific immunosuppression. RNA-based cell therapy has potential to address these limitations. Here we report prespecified exploratory analyses from a successful placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized phase 2b trial in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis who received Descartes-08, an autologous, RNA-encoded anti-B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR-T cell therapy. In 66.7% of patients (n = 10/15), transient targeting of BCMA with Descartes-08 administered in an outpatient setting without lymphodepletion resulted in durable clinical efficacy. Comparison of Descartes-08-treated (n ≤ 19) and placebo (n ≤ 15) cohorts by flow cytometry, serum profiling, multiplexing cytokine analysis and bulk/single-cell transcriptional analysis reveals a precision retuning of self-reactivity demonstrated by increased pro-immune function, decreased activity of BCMA

Indexed as

B-Cell Maturation AntigenImmunotherapy, AdoptiveMyasthenia GravisReceptors, Chimeric AntigenRNA, MessengerAdultAgedBiomarkersCytokinesDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedB-Cell Maturation AntigenBiomarkersCytokinesReceptors, Chimeric AntigenRNA, MessengerTNFRSF17 protein, human

Identifiers

PMID41514039
PMCPMC13004674

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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 Socratic graph.