TSPAN12 and Alzheimer disease: Additionally, the mRNA encoding a four-time membrane spanning integral membrane protein tetraspanin-12 (TSPAN12) is also a target for miRNA-146a, and up-regulated miRNA-146a further contributes to the down-regulation of TSPAN12 as is observed in AD brain and in cytokine and Aβ-peptide-stressed human brain cells (Junge et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2009; Li et al., 2011a,b).