The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the paraneoplastic antigen MA (PNMA) family, which shares homology with retroviral Gag proteins. The PNMA antigens are highly expressed in the brain and also in a range of tumors associated with serious neurological phenotypes. PMID:16407312 reports the presence of a functional -1 ribosomal frameshift signal (consisting of a heptanucleotide shift motif followed 3' by a pseudoknot structure) in this gene, however, the frame-shifted product has not been characterized. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2013]