This gene encodes a transcription factor containing a POU homeodomain. This transcription factor plays a role in embryonic development, especially during early embryogenesis, and it is necessary for embryonic stem cell pluripotency. A translocation of this gene with the Ewing's sarcoma gene, t(6;22)(p21;q12), has been linked to tumor formation. Alternative splicing, as well as usage of alternative translation initiation codons, results in multiple isoforms, one of which initiates at a non-AUG