This gene belongs to the CEBP family. The encoded protein plays a role in cellular response to environmental stimuli through a transcriptional process that involves heat shock factors, conserved DNA elements (heat shock elements or HSEs) and CCAAT boxes. The protein acts as a DNA-binding transcriptional activator and regulates the heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) promoter in a CCAAT-dependent manner. The protein is also involved in cell growth and differentiation, particularly, hematopoietic differentiation. Methylation of the promoter of this gene or mutations within the gene may be correlated with occurance of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2016]