Artemin belongs to the GDNF family of ligands, which consists of 4 members: GDNF, Neurturin, Artemin, and Persephin. GDNF family members orchestrate multiple aspects of the development and maintenance of the central and peripheral nervous systems. These GDNF family ligands signal through multicomponent receptor systems, which are composed of a common signaling component receptor tyrosine kinase (RET) and one of the high affinity binding coreceptor GFRα (α1-α4). Artemin is a GDNF family member that functions as a ligand for the GFRα3 and RET complex. Artemin is a disulfide-linked homodimer that contains three intra-chain disulfide linkage and a cysteine knot motif. Artemin supports the survival of sensory and sympathetic peripheral neurons and also supports survival of dopaminergic midbrain neurons. Artemin expression in adult tissues is ubiquitous with high levels in peripheral tissues including prostate, placenta, pancreas, heart, kidneys, pituitary gland, lung, and testis. In adult rats, systemic artemin treatment promotes the regeneration of sensory axons to the brainstem after brachial dorsal root crush. Recent findings suggest that artemin regulates multiple aspects of carcinoma progression and metastasis. Artemin is a hypoxia-responsive factor and is essential for hypoxia-induced cancer stem cell expansion in hepatocellular carcinomas and artemin stimulates de novo tumor angiogenesis in mammary carcinomas that are mediated in part by VEGF-A.