This gene is expressed in the liver, and encodes a short peptide that is localized predominantly to the cytoplasm. Transient transfection studies showed that expression of this gene significantly inhibited cell growth, and it may have a role in apoptosis. Expression of this gene is downregulated or lost in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), suggesting that loss of this gene is involved in carcinogenesis of hepatocytes (PMID:12971969). Also to note is that this gene maps to the 3'-noncoding region of HEPACAM gene (GeneID:220296) on the antisense strand (PMID:15885354). [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2011].