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In addition to the devastating symptoms of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by accumulation of the processing products of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide precursor protein (APP). APP’s non-pathogenic functions include regulating intracellular iron (Fe) homeostasis. MicroRNAs are small (~ 20 nucleotides) RNA species that instill specificity to the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). In most cases, RISC inhibits mRNA translation through the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) sequence. By contrast, we report a novel activity of miR-346: specifically, that it targets the APP mRNA 5′-UTR to upregulate APP translation and Aβ production. This upregulation is reduced but not eliminated by knockdown of argonaute 2. The target site for miR-346 overlaps with active sites for an iron-responsive element (IRE) and an interleukin-1 (IL-1) acute box element. IREs interact with iron response protein1 (IRP1), an …