WD repeat domain 43 promotes malignant progression of non-small cell lung cancer by regulating CDK2

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) ranks highly among malignant tumors in the world in terms of morbidity and mortality. By using bioinformatics, we screened and obtained a novel oncogene WDR43, a member of the WD-repeat protein encoding family that is closely related to tumor progression. PCR and immunohistochemistry showed that WDR43 is highly expressed in NSCLC. High WDR43 expression in NSCLC was associated with worse clinical symptoms and prognosis. Knocked down expression of WDR43 significantly impaired the migration and proliferation and cell-cycle arrest in G1 phase in NSCLC cell lines. WDR43 can directly interact with cyclin-dependent kinase 2 and induce the expression of cyclin proteins. Our results suggest that WDR43 is a promising target of protein–protein interaction inhibitors for treatment of NSCLC.