Sirtuin 2 Overexpression Fails to Extend Life in Mice

One long-lasting result of the hype engineered over sirtuin 1 overexpression as a possible avenue to modestly slow aging is a continued focus on other sirtuins in the context of aging. Sirtuin 1 overexpression turned out to be entirely unimpressive, a dead end. Sirtuin 6, however, is more interesting, and overexpression in mice does modestly extend life span, possibly by improving DNA repair efficiency. It may also be the case that sirtuin 3 overexpression can improve mitochondrial function to a great enough degree to also be interesting. On the whole, however, this sort of approach to manipulating metabolism has yet to produce gains in mouse life span that come close to that achieved by calorie restriction. And gains in mouse life span dwindle when the same strategies are applied to longer-lived species, in which evolution has already implemented many of the gains that can be achieved in short-lived species. Still, the research community continues down this road, and sirtuins remain on the agenda. That leads to studies such as the one reported in today's open access paper, in which researchers rule out sirtuin 2 upregulation as an area of interest. SIRT2 transgenic over-expression does not impact lifespan in mice The sirtuin NAD+-dependent deacylase family of enzymes contains seven members, playing diverse roles in epigenetic regulation, DNA repair, and metabolic homeostasis. Interest in these proteins was sparked by initial findings on the role of Si...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs