We report here the cloning and characterization of the human gene DERP6, isolated from human testis cDNA library, and mapped to 17p13.1 by searching the UCSC genomic database. The DERP6 cDNA consists of 1486 nucleotides and has a 316-amino acids open reading frame. The Northern hybridization analysis showed that DERP6 was ubiquitously expressed in all the 16 adult tissues, especially highly expressed in heart, brain, liver, skeletal muscle and testis. DERP6 protein was located in cytoplasm when overexpressed in cultured cells. Reporter gene assays showed that overexpression of DERP6 in cells activated the transcriptional activities of p53. These results indicate that the human gene DERP6 may be involved in p53-mediated gene transcription.