Increases intracellular lipid accumulation. Stimulates expression of cytokines including IL6, MIF and VEGFA. Enhances cell growth and proliferation. Highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma cells but barely detectable in adjacent normal kidney tissue. Detected in some cervical and endometrial cancers. Expression also detected in fetal kidney with little or no expression observed in normal adult heart, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate or spinal cord (at protein level). By hypoxia but highly abundant under normoxic conditions (at protein level).