This gene is a member of the the NOD-like receptor protein (NLRP) gene family and encodes a protein with an N-terminal pyrin death (PYD) domain and nucleoside triphosphate hydrolase (NACHT) domain and a C-terminal leucine-rich repeats (LRR) region. This gene has been shown to regulate caspases in the proinflammatory signal transduction pathway and, based on studies of other members of the NLRP gene family with similar domain structure, is predicted to form part of the multiprotein inflammasome complex. Alternative splicing produces multiple transcript variants encoding distince isoforms.