Guarente's lab has long studied the link between aging and
sirtuins, a class of proteins found in nearly all animals.
The emerging and diverse roles of
sirtuins in cancer: a clinical perspective.
Enzymes within the
sirtuin family can remove a negatively-charged acetyl group from the histones, thus making them more positively charged.
For example,
sirtuins protect DNA from damage that can lead to potentially harmful mutations.
These increase the function of the enzyme
sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) in cancer cells, regulation of this enzyme could open up new avenues for cancer treatment, revealed the researchers from the University of Eastern Finland
SIRT4, unlike other
sirtuins, mostly functions as a histone ADP-ribosyltransferase but does not have NAD-dependent deacetylase activity [52].
Class III histone deacetylase (HDAC) is also known as
sirtuins (SIRTs), and the mammalian SIRT family has seven members (SIRT1-SIRT7).
Yang, "
Sirtuins in glucose and lipid metabolism," Oncotarget, vol.