Fhit - fragile histidine triad gene

This gene encodes a member of the HIT family of proteins that are characterized by the presence of a histidine triad sequence. The encoded protein is a diadenosine triphosphate hydrolase enzyme that cleaves the P(1)-P(3)-bis(5'-adenosyl) triphosphate (Ap3A) to yield AMP and ADP. This locus is very fragile and has been found to be altered in different types of cancers. Mice lacking the encoded protein display increased susceptibility to spontaneous and induced tumors. Ectopic expression of the encoded protein in such knockout mice inhibits tumor development. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Apr 2015]