This gene encodes a member of a disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) family of endoproteases that play important roles in various biological processes including cell signaling, adhesion and migration. This gene is widely expressed, most highly in the adult brain, heart, kidney, lung and testis. The encoded preproprotein undergoes proteolytic processing to generate a mature, functional metalloprotease enzyme. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms, some of which may undergo similar processing. [provided by RefSeq, May 2016]