In contrast to the aforementioned odoriferous compounds, the levels of long straight-chain fatty acids such as hexadecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, and linolic acid and short straight-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid, hexanoic acid, and octanoic acid in axillary sweat have not been found to be affected by the ABCC11 genotype, which suggests that their secretion is independent of ABCC11. These straight-chain fatty acids are odoriferous, but differently and to a much lesser extent compared to branched-chain fatty acids. In accordance, it has been said that it is very likely that these aliphatic straight-chain fatty acids are responsible for the faint sour acidic axillary odor that has previously been observed in most Japanese individuals. In addition to the secretion of straight-chain fatty acids, axillary microflora did not appear to differ between homozygous carriers of the 538G→A SNP and non-carriers.
The ABCC11 transporter appears to be involved both in the transport of androstane steroids into the secretory cells of apocrine glands and in the secretion of preodoriferous compounds from axillary apocrine glands. Specific steroids that ABCC11 has been found to transport include steroid sulfates like DHEA-S and estrone sulfate and steroid glucuronides like estradiol glucuronide. In accordance with its transport of compounds involved in axillary odor, ABCC11 alleles are strongly associated with axillary odor. Asians have little or faint axillary odor, whereas Caucasians and Africans have strong axillary odor, and this has been found to be due to genetic differences in the ABCC11 gene.