The instability of oncogenic mRNA such as c-fos mRNA is controlled in cis by sequences present in both the coding and the 3' untranslated regions (3'UTR). The latter contains AU-rich elements (ARE) which, depending on the cellular context, mediate either their rapid degradation or inhibit their translation. These observations, along with the known increase of the life spans of many unstable mRNA promoted by inhibitors of protein synthesis, raise the possibility that both processes are linked. To investigate further the putative involvement of translation in both coding region and ARE-mediated rapid decay of c-fos mRNA, we designed an expression vector based on the use of the ferritin mRNA iron regulatory element (IRE). The latter structure links translation to intracellular iron concentration when inserted at the proper location within the 5'UTR. Rapid degradation of a beta-globin/c-fos 3'UTR construct was prevented by Desferrioxamine, an iron chelator, and facilitated by ferric ammonium citrate or hemin, while stability of other mRNAs not containing the IRE or the ARE were unchanged. The same conclusion was reached when the stability of a c-fos mRNA devoid of ARE was assessed in function of iron availability.