BCMA promotes MM cell proliferation and survival. (A) MM1R cells were infected with lentiviruses expressing shBCMA or control shRNA (shCnt) followed by these assays: CellTiter-Glo for viability, Caspase-Glo 3/7 for apoptosis, and methylcellulose-based colony formation. (B) BCMA mRNA levels were measured by real time qRT-PCR (upper) and viable cell number were determined by trypan blue (lower) in BCMA-overexpressing RPMI8226 (R-BCMA) and empty control vector-expressing RPMI8226 (R-empty) cells which were infected with shBCMA or shCnt lentivirus. Cell growth and survival were determined by (C) DNA synthesis and (D) CellTiter-Glo in paired (C) R-BCMA/R-empty MM and (E) Daudi-BCMA/Daudi-empty B lymphoma cells. (D) Colony formation is determined in R-BCMA vs R-empty cells. (F) Protein lysates were examined by immunoblotting using indicated (F) Abs and (G) Kinex KAM-880 antibody microarray using Kinexus Bioinformatics. (G) Most significant 29 protein hits in R-BCMA relative to R-empty cells are presented. (H) Nuclear extracts were assayed for p65, p50, and p52 DNA binding induction to determine NF-κB activity. *P < .01, **P < .001 Shown are means and standard error of the means of ≥3 independent experiments.