This gene encodes a member of the Abelson family of nonreceptor tyrosine protein kinases. The protein is highly similar to the c-abl oncogene 1 protein, including the tyrosine kinase, SH2 and SH3 domains, and it plays a role in cytoskeletal rearrangements through its C-terminal F-actin- and microtubule-binding sequences. This gene is expressed in both normal and tumor cells, and is involved in translocation with the ets variant 6 gene in leukemia. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different protein isoforms have been found for this gene.