This gene encodes a protein involved in regulating responses to cytokines by members of the Rel/NF-kappaB transcription factor family. These factors play a central role in innate immunity in response to pathogens, inflammatory signals and stress. This gene product interacts with TRAF proteins (tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factors) and either I-kappaB kinase or MAP kinase to activate either NF-kappaB or Jun kinase. Two alternative transcripts encoding different proteins have been identified. A third transcript, which does not encode a protein and is transcribed in the opposite orientation, has been identified. Overexpression of this transcript has been shown to reduce expression of at least one of the protein encoding transcripts, suggesting it has a regulatory role in the expression of this gene. [provided by RefSeq]. Transcript Variant: This variant (2) lacks an alternate in-frame exon, compared to variant 1. Isoform 2 has a shorter and distinct N-terminus, compared to isoform 1. Publication Note: This RefSeq record includes a subset of the publications that are available for this gene. Please see the Entrez Gene record to access additional publications.