SIRT1 and Insulin resistance: In addition, SIRT1 promotes insulin expression by activating the expression of NeuroD and MafA (Zhou, Tang & Chen, 2018) SIRT1 and its activators reduce insulin resistance and diabetic complications and are thus potentially effective therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes (T2D) (Ma et al., 2016; Kitada et al., 2019; Hegedus et al., 2020).