GLOD4 is a 313 amino acid protein belonging to the glyoxalase I family. GLOD4 interacts with NUDT9, a highly specific adenosine diphosphate ribose pyrophosphatase. Localized to mitochondrion, GLOD4 is expressed in heart, brain, liver, kidney, pancreas and placenta, but is not found in skeletal muscle or lung. Expression of GLOD4 is decreased in hepatocellular carcinoma samples in comparison to adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues from the same patients. Transfection of GLOD4 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells and overexpression has also been shown to inhibit cell growth. GLOD4 exists as three alternatively spliced isoforms and is encoded by a gene that maps to human chromosome 17p13.3.