Lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality worldwide. However, the underlying mechanisms of
lung cancer remain poorly understood. DnaJ
heat shock protein family (HSP40) member C12 (DNAJC12) is a type III member belonging to the HSP40/DNAJ family. The role of DNAJC12 in numerous types of
cancer has been previously reported; however, the effect of DNAJC12 in
lung cancer remains unknown. The results of the present study indicated that DNAJC12 may be involved in
lung cancer proliferation and migration by regulating the β‑catenin signaling pathway. Data generated in the present study and from The
Cancer Genome Atlas revealed that the DNAJC12 expression levels were significantly upregulated in
lung cancer tissues compared with non‑cancer lung tissues. The expression of DNAJC12 was subsequently knocked down in A549 and NCI‑H1975
lung cancer cells using lentiviral transfections and further experiments demonstrated that the knockdown of DNAJC12 inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of
lung cancer cells. The results of flow cytometric assays also revealed that the knockdown of DNAJC12 induced the apoptosis of
lung cancer cells. In addition, the effects of DNAJC12 knockdown on the in vivo growth of
lung cancer cells were observed. Signaling pathway analysis revealed that the knockdown of DNAJC12 expression suppressed the phosphorylation of p65 NF‑κB, downregulated the expression levels and inhibited the subsequent activation of β‑catenin, and downregulated the expression levels of
vimentin. Rescue experiments demonstrated that the overexpression of β‑catenin, but not that of NF‑κB or
vimentin, reversed the effects of DNAJC12 knockdown on the proliferation and invasion of
lung cancer cells. On the whole, the findings of the present study suggest that DNAJC12 may play a crucial role in
lung cancer tumorigenesis by regulating the expression and activation of β‑catenin. Therefore, DNAJC12 may represent a novel target for the treatment of
lung cancer.