該基因編碼一種在多胺代謝中起主要作用的酶，對腺嘌呤和蛋氨酸的修復都很重要。編碼酶在許多癌癥中缺乏，因為這個基因和抑癌基因p16被共同刪除。已經描述了該基因的多個選擇性剪接轉錄變體，但它們的全長性質仍然未知。
This gene encodes an enzyme that plays a major role in polyamine metabolism and is important for the salvage of both adenine and methionine. The encoded enzyme is deficient in many cancers because this gene and the tumor suppressor p16 gene are co-deleted. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants have been described for this gene, but their full-length natures remain unknown.