METRNL is a 311 amino acid secreted protein belonging to the Meteorin family and may have similar roles to that of the Meteorin protein. METRNL is encoded by a gene located on human chromosome 17, which comprises over 2.5% of the human genome and encodes over 1,200 genes, some of which are involved in tumor suppression and in the pathogenesis of Li-Fraumeni syndrome, early onset breast cancer and a predisposition to cancers of the ovary, colon, prostate gland and fallopian tubes.