Taken together, these data suggest that N-Myc oncoprotein is capable of up-regulating SIRT1 gene expression in normal, pre-cancerous and cancer cells, that up-regulation of SIRT1 promotes cell proliferation, and that N-Myc up-regulates SIRT1 gene expression during malignant transformation in pre-cancerous cells. This evidence concerns the gene SIRT1 and cancer.