Sirtuin 6 plays an oncogenic role and induces cell autophagy in esophageal cancer cells

Sirtuin 6, a member of sirtuin family, is generally regarded as a tumor suppressor as it participates in suppressing hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and MYC transcription activity by deacetylating H3K9 (histone H3 lysine 9) and H3K56 (histone H3 lysine) at promoters of target genes, leading to the aerobic glycolysis inhibition and cell growth suppression. However, its expression has recently been reported to be highly elevated in a series of tumors, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, and non–small cell lung cancer, indicating that sirtuin 6 plays dual roles in tumorigenicity in a cell/tumor type–specific manner. To our knowledge, the biological roles of sirtuin 6 in esophageal cancer cells have still been underestimated. In the study, data from quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction–based assays and immunohistochemical assays revealed that sirtuin 6 was remarkably overexpressed in esophageal squamous tumor tissues. Moreover, its upregulation was closely related with clinical featu...