The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21Cip1 is upregulated in response to mitogenic stimulation in various cells. PPAR␥ ligands troglitazone (TRO, 10 M) and rosiglitazone (RSG, 10 M) attenuated the induction of p21Cip1 protein by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and insulin without affecting cognate mRNA levels in rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMC). The protein kinase C␦ (PKC␦) inhibitor rottlerin also blocked the induction of p21Cip1 protein, whereas the conventional PKC isotype inhibitor Gö 6976 had no effect. Kinetic studies using the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide showed that TRO, RSG, and rottlerin shortened the half-life of p21 Cip1 expression in PDGFtreated RASMC. PPAR␥ ligands enhanced proteintyrosine-phosphatase activity in RASMC, which may be the mechanism for decreased PKC␦ tyrosine phosphorylation and activity. PPAR␥ ligands regulate p21Cip1 at a post-translational level by blocking PKC␦ signaling and accelerating p21Cip1 turnover.Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) 1 in the normal vessel wall proliferate at a very low frequency. Injury to the endothelium results in the release of mitogens that stimulate quiescent, G 0 /G 1 -arrested VSMC to reenter the cell cycle, replicate DNA, and divide. VSMC hyperplasia is a key event in the formation of restenotic and atherosclerotic lesions in the vasculature (1, 2). Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are serinethreonine protein kinases that regulate cell cycle progression after forming complexes with and being activated by cyclins (3). Mitogenic activation of cyclin D⅐CDK4, cyclin D⅐CDK6, and cyclin E⅐CDK2 during the G 1 phase results in phosphorylation of retinoblastoma gene (Rb) proteins. In its hyperphosphorylated state, Rb functions as a gatekeeper for the G 1 3 S transition by binding and sequestering E2F, a transcription factor that induces the expression of a battery of genes that encode the enzymatic machinery for S phase DNA synthesis. Cyclindependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs) can negatively regulate the mitogen-induced cascade of G 1 events by inhibiting CDK activity and preventing Rb phosphorylation (3, 4).Consistent with the view that CDKIs are major negative regulators of the cell cycle, overexpression of Cip/Kip family members (p21 Cip1 , p27 Kip1 ) blocks the G 1 exit in VSMC and other cell types (5, 6). Data emerging from recent studies, however, suggest that CDKIs p21Cip1 and p27 Kip1 can also function as positive regulators during the G 1 phase as assembly factors to promote formation of cyclin⅐CDK holoenzyme complexes (3, 7). Such a role for CDKIs may explicate apparent paradoxical observations that p21Cip1 is frequently up-regulated after mitogenic stimulation of quiescent cells (8,9). In rat VSMC cell lines, prevention of mitogen-induced p21 Cip1 expression by antisense oligodeoxynucleotides attenuated both DNA synthesis and cell proliferation (10). We recently reported that ligands for the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR␥) inhibited Rb phosphorylation and G 1 3 S transition in ra...