SIRT1 Suppresses the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Cancer Metastasis and Organ Fibrosis

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is important for the development of cancer metastases and organ fibrosis, conditions prevalent in aging. Because sirtuins affect the pathology of aging, we tested the effect of SirT1 on EMT. Reduced SIRT1 levels in HMLER breast cancer cells led to increased metastases in nude mice, and the loss of SIRT1 in kidney tubular epithelial cells exacerbated injury-induced kidney fibrosis. SIRT1 reduces EMT in cancer and fibrosis by deacetylating Smad4 and repressing the effect of TGF-beta signaling on MMP7, a Smad4 target gene. Consequently, less E-cadherin is cleaved from the cell surface and beta-catenin remains bound to E-cadherin at the cell-cell junctions. Our findings suggest that the SIRT1/Smad4/beta-catenin axis may be a target for diseases driven by EMT.