p16CDKN2 specifically binds to and inhibits the cyclin-dependent kinases CDK4 and CDK6, which function as regulators of cell cycle progression in G 1 by contributing to the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRB). Human cell lines lacking functional pRB contain high levels of p16 RNA and protein, suggesting a negative feedback loop by which pRB might regulate p16 expression in late G 1 . By a combination of nuclear run-on assays and promoter analyses in human fibroblasts expressing a temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 T antigen, we show that p16 transcription is affected by the status of pRB and define a region in the p16 promoter that is required for this response. However, the effect is not sufficient to account for the differences in p16 RNA levels between pRB-positive and -negative cells. Moreover, p16 RNA is extremely stable, and the levels do not change appreciably during the cell cycle. Primary human fibroblasts express very low levels of p16, but the RNA and protein accumulate in late-passage, senescent cells. The apparent overexpression of p16 in pRB-negative cell lines is therefore caused by at least two factors: loss of repression by pRB and an increase in the number of population doublings.CDKN2, also referred to as INK4A, CDK4I, and MTS1 (23,36,49), is a putative tumor suppressor gene on human chromosome 9p21 that is genetically linked with familial inheritance of malignant melanoma and is inactivated by a variety of mechanisms in a broad spectrum of human cancers (reviewed in references 22 and 51). CDKN2 encodes a 156-amino-acid protein, designated p16, that specifically binds to and inactivates the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) CDK4 and CDK6 (16,19,41,49). These kinases are the major catalytic partners for cyclins D1, D2, and D3 and collaborate with cyclin E-CDK2 in controlling the G 1 /S transition in mammalian cells (reviewed in references 9, 43, and 53).One of the critical substrates of the G 1 -specific cyclin-dependent kinases is the product of the retinoblastoma gene (pRB) which, in its hypophosphorylated state, exerts a negative influence on G 1 progression (42,63). Since phosphorylation of pRB equates with its functional inactivation, a relatively robust model has emerged in which the role of the cyclin D-dependent kinases is to initiate the phosphorylation of pRB (9,52,63). Consistent with such a scheme, antibody neutralization studies have indicated that D-type cyclin function is required up to a point in G 1 coincident with the block imposed by pRB (3,44). This requirement is lost in cells lacking functional pRB (29,30). Ectopic expression of p16, which specifically interferes with the cyclin D-dependent kinases CDK4 and CDK6, imposes an analogous G 1 block that is also dependent on functional pRB (14,24,31,34,48). Conversely, ectopic expression of D cyclins can accelerate G 1 progression, particularly when coupled with elevated expression of cyclin E (2,20,35,(44)(45)(46). The model can readily explain the role of p16 as a tumor suppressor, since loss of function will...