Stella-related (STELLAR) or Developmental pluripotency associated 3 pseudogene 2 (DPPA3P2) protein is a highly divergent protein (with just 32.1 % identity to mouse stella over the 159 amino acid sequence) that maps to human chromosome 12p13. Human STELLAR is located distal to a previously uncharacterized homeobox gene, which is the human homolog of the recently identified murine gene, Nanog, and proximal to the GDF3 locus, whose transcription is restricted to germ cell tumor cells. STELLAR is enriched in organs containing pluripotent cells. STELLAR expression was found in fetal ovary with no detectable expression in any other fetal somatic tissue. STELLAR is generally localized to the ovary and testis in undifferentiated lines, and that expression decreased with differentiation.