This gene encodes a member of the selenium-binding protein family. Selenium is an essential nutrient that exhibits potent anticarcinogenic properties, and deficiency of selenium may cause certain neurologic diseases. The effects of selenium in preventing cancer and neurologic diseases may be mediated by selenium-binding proteins, and decreased expression of this gene may be associated with several types of cancer. The encoded protein may play a selenium-dependent role in ubiquitination/deubiquitination-mediated protein degradation. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding multiple isoforms have been observed for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Apr 2012].