The product of this gene, ALDH1a2, is an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of all-trans retinoic acid (RA) from retinaldehyde in a NAD-dependent manner.

[7] Retinoic acid, the active derivative of vitamin A (retinol), is a retinoid nuclear receptor ligand that functions in developing and adult tissues.

[12] T-ALL is a leukemia that arises from immature T-cell precursors and is an aggressive form of cancer that primarily affects children but also occurs in adults.

ALDH1A2 is one of the recognized downstream targets of TAL1 fusion genes which works by binding to the intronic regulatory element of ALDH1a2, thereby inducing a T-ALL specific isoform with enzymatic activity.

[19] Extensive characterization of these loci show that SNPs associated with hand osteoarthritis result in quantitative reductions of ALDH1a2 expression, suggesting that ALDH1a2 protects against synovial inflammation.