E2F family of transcription factors regulates the transcription of genes required for DNA synthesis. E2F is itself controlled by a series of transcriptional and post-transcriptional pathways. Here we provide evidence that proteasome inhibitor-mediated E2F1 gene down-regulation is regulated by transcriptional events. Using the proteasome-specific inhibitors, MG132 and lactacystin, we show that the p53, the cdk inhibitors p21 and p27, and cyclin A are degraded by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway in human osteosarcoma cells. Interestingly, the expression levels of E2F1 and E2F2 are down-regulated by proteasome inhibitors. E2F promoter and RT-PCR assay clearly demonstrated that proteasome inhibitors could reduce E2F transcriptional activation. However, MG132-induced repression of E2F1 and E2F2 is not associated with ROS generation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.