Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Mar 26, 2015; 7(2): 235-242
Published online Mar 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i2.235
SIRT1 and stem cells: In the forefront with cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and cancer
Kenneth Maiese
Kenneth Maiese, Cellular and Molecular Signaling, Newark, NJ 07101, United States
Author contributions: Maiese K conceived, designed, and wrote this article.
Supported by The following grants to Kenneth Maiese: American Diabetes Association; American Heart Association; NIH NIEHS; NIH NIA; NIH NINDS; and NIH ARRA.
Conflict-of-interest: The author declares no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kenneth Maiese, MD, Cellular and Molecular Signaling, 125 Main Street, Newark, NJ 07101, United States. wntin75@yahoo.com
Received: November 2, 2014
Peer-review started: November 2, 2014
First decision: November 27, 2014
Revised: December 31, 2014
Accepted: January 15, 2015
Article in press: January 15, 2015
Published online: March 26, 2015
Processing time: 138 Days and 9.4 Hours
Abstract

Cardiovascular disease, nervous system disorders, and cancer in association with other diseases such as diabetes mellitus result in greater than sixty percent of the global annual deaths. These noncommunicable diseases also affect at least one-third of the population in low and middle-income countries and lead to hypertension, elevated cholesterol, malignancy, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. With the climbing lifespan of the world’s population, increased prevalence of these disorders is expected requiring the development of new therapeutic strategies against these disabling disease entities. Targeting stem cell proliferation for cardiac disease, vascular disorders, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders is receiving great enthusiasm, especially those that focus upon SIRT1, a mammalian homologue of the yeast silent information regulator-2. Modulation of the cellular activity of SIRT1 can involve oversight by nicotinamide/nicotinic acid mononucleotide adenylyltransferase, mammalian forkhead transcription factors, mechanistic of rapamycin pathways, and cysteine-rich protein 61, connective tissue growth factor, and nephroblastoma over-expressed gene family members that can impact cytoprotective outcomes. Ultimately, the ability of SIRT1 to control the programmed cell death pathways of apoptosis and autophagy can determine not only cardiac, vascular, and neuronal stem cell development and longevity, but also the onset of tumorigenesis and the resistance against chemotherapy. SIRT1 therefore has a critical role and holds exciting prospects for new therapeutic strategies that can offer reparative processes for cardiac, vascular, and nervous system degenerative disorders as well as targeted control of aberrant cell growth during cancer.

Keywords: FoxO; Mechanistic of rapamycin; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cardiovascular; Cysteine-rich protein 61, connective tissue growth factor, and nephroblastoma over-expressed gene; Neurodegeneration; Progenitor stem cells; SIRT1; Cancer

Core tip: SIRT1, a mammalian homologue of the yeast silent information regulator-2, holds exciting prospects for new therapeutic strategies that can offer reparative processes for cardiac, vascular, and nervous system degenerative disorders as well as targeted control of unchecked cell growth during cancer.