RELA and cancer: Furthermore, DCLK1 knockdown decreased the expression of NOTCH, RELA and MAPK in colon cancer cells, suggesting that DCLK1 may act as a master regulator for multiple pro-survival signaling pathways, which could explain why any individual knockdown of pro-survival signaling is less effective than DCLK1 knockdown in inhibiting cancer cells’ self-renewal and progression.