Cellular transformation induced by oncogenic tyrosine kinases is a multistep process involving activation of growth-promoting signaling pathways and inactivation of suppressor molecules. Dok-1 is an adaptor protein that acts as a negative regulator of tyrosine kinase-initiated signaling and opposes oncogenic tyrosine kinasemediated cell transformation. Findings that its loss facilitates transformation induced by oncogenic tyrosine kinases suggest that Dok-1 inactivation could constitute an intermediate step in oncogenesis driven by these oncoproteins. However, whether Dok-1 is subject to regulation by oncogenic tyrosine kinases remained unknown. In this study, we show that oncogenic tyrosine kinases, including p210 bcr-abl and oncogenic forms of Src, downregulate Dok-1 by targeting it for degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. This process is dependent on the tyrosine kinase activity of the oncoproteins and is mediated primarily by lysine-dependent polyubiquitination of Dok-1. Importantly, restoration of Dok-1 levels strongly suppresses transformation of cells expressing oncogenic tyrosine kinases, and this suppression is more pronounced in the context of a Dok-1 mutant that is largely refractory to oncogenic tyrosine kinase-induced degradation. Our findings suggest that proteasome-mediated downregulation of Dok-1 is a key mechanism by which oncogenic tyrosine kinases overcome the inhibitory effect of Dok-1 on cellular transformation and tumor progression.Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs), of which more than 90 are encoded by the human genome, are key regulators of intracellular signal transduction pathways that control a variety of cellular processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, survival, cell movement, and cytoskeletal organization (46,52). Under physiological conditions, the activity of these kinases, including receptor and cytoplasmic PTKs, is tightly controlled to maintain cell and tissue homeostasis. However, when deregulated, due to, for example, mutations, gene amplifications, or impaired deactivation of the PTK, this control is lost, leading to aberrant downstream signaling, which can result in malignant transformation. To date, deregulation of more than 50 human PTKs has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various solid tumors and hematologic malignancies (2, 7, 36).Significant progress has been made toward unraveling the mechanisms of oncogenic activation of PTKs. Also, numerous studies have identified key signaling molecules and pathways that are activated by oncogenic tyrosine kinases (OTKs) and participate in mediating their effects on malignant transformation (45,55,57,71,72,75). However, besides triggering positive signaling events, OTKs also need to overcome negative regulatory constraints to drive tumor initiation and/or progression (7,24,42,57). These include, for instance, constraints brought about by tumor suppressors or inhibitory molecules that counteract the signaling activity triggered by the OTKs (17, 69). The nature of these "negative regulators" and, import...