Members of the RAB family of RAS-related GTP-binding proteins are important regulators of vesicular transport and are located in specific intracellular compartments. RAB7 has been localized to late endosomes and shown to be important in the late endocytic pathway. In addition, it has been shown to have a fundamental role in the cellular vacuolation induced by the cytotoxin VacA of Helicobacter pylori.

Various mutations of RAB7A are associated with Hereditary sensory neuropathy type 1C (HSN IC), also known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome type 2B (CMT2B).The RAB7 cDNA encodes a 207-amino acid protein whose sequence is 99% identical to those of mouse, rat, and dog Rab7 and 61% identical to that of yeast Rab7.