Putative adhesion molecule that mediates sialic-acid dependent binding to cells. Expressed in bone marrow, fetal brain, fetal liver, lung and salivary gland. Detected in brain, macrophage, cancerous esophagus and lung at protein level. Belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily. SIGLEC (sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin) family. According to PubMed:18629938, the SIGLECP16 sequence, that was initially classified as a pseudogene, has a 4 bp deletion when compared with the sequence shown in this entry. This deletion is a polymorphism with a frequency of around 50% in the UK population. The frameshifted allele is non-functional whereas the sequence displayed here seems to be functional. The functional allele has been named SIGLEC16 in PubMed:18629938.