SIRT7 suppresses tumorigenesis by attenuating MYC activity. Mus musculus

SIRT7 is a member of the mammalian sirtuin family of NAD+ dependent deacylases, and interacts with RNA polymerase I and UBF to regulate rDNA transcription. Various studies in mammalian cells and human clinical data have linked SIRT7 to cancer. However studies differ as to whether SIRT7 is oncogenic or tumor suppressive. Here we analyzed SIRT7 knockout mice and found SIRT7 deficiency caused sub-Mendelian birth numbers and a reduction in body size. Moreover, at 18 month of age, roughly 60 % of the SIRT7 knockout mice develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in many cases leading to suspected metastasis. Several HCC associated genes were up-regulated in livers of mice as young as 6 months of age, particularly targets of the proto-oncogene, c- MYC. Indeed SIRT7 interacts with MYC at endogenous protein levels and also represses MYC activity. Our findings thus show that SIRT7 acts as a tumor suppressor in vivo, and may suggest novel strategies to treat liver cancer. Overall design: The mRNAs from 3 replicates of mouse Wildtype liver compared to 3 replicates of mouse liver lacking SIRT7