SIRT1 and cancer: One of the genes that control H2A.Z levels is SIRT1. SIRT1 reduces H2A.Z levels via proteasome-mediated degradation (Baptista et al., 2013); not surprisingly given its role in the control of noise, as discussed by Richard and Yvert, high levels of H2A.Z (and low levels of SIRT1) are observed in different cancers (Baptista et al., 2013 and references herein).