The protein encoded by this gene is a membrane-associated protein that promotes lung carcinogenesis. The encoded protein may be involved in amino acid transport and glutathione metabolism since it can interact with a solute carrier family member (SLC3A2) and an isoform of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-like 3. An alternatively spliced variant encoding a protein that lacks a 32 aa internal segment showed the opposite effect, inhibiting lung cancer cell growth. Knockdown of this gene also inhibited lung carcinogenesis and tumor cell growth. Several transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Dec 2015].