siRNA-dependent KCNMB2 silencing inhibits lung cancer cell proliferation and promotes cell death

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most common causes of premature death worldwide. Since NSCLC patients have a high rate of mutation in EGFR and KRAS, a better understanding of the genetic association underlying NSCLC progression is needed. Recent technological advances in gene expression profiling in cancer cells have provided the expression data of thousands of genes. Therefore, we screened hundreds of genes through the Kaplan Meier plotter database to find a novel gene expression pattern associated with lung cancer patient survival. First, we analyzed 3,019 lung cancer patients’ data and performed a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. We found that KCNMB2 upregulation was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients. Therefore, we hypothesized that KCNMB2 downregulation would inhibit lung cancer cell proliferation. Next, we found that KCNMB2 silencing by small interfering RNA (siRNA) inhibits cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis, suggesting that targeting KCNMB2 may be an effective therapeutic strategy for NSCLC patients.