In addition, individual silencing of these targets potently rescued the TOP/FOP luciferase reporter activity and self-renewal ability in miR-501-5p-inhibited cells (Fig. 5e and f), demonstrating that DKK1, NKD1 and GSK3β were functional effectors of miR-501-5p on regulating wnt/β-catenin signaling activation and stem cell-like phenotype in gastric cancer. This evidence concerns the gene DKK1 and gastric cancer.