T lymphocyte stimulation via the Ag receptor results in activation of phospholipase C gamma 1 that catalyses the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol (PI). The hydrolysis generates inositol phosphate and diacylglycerol, which in turn, increase intracellular Ca2+ concentration and activates protein kinase C, respectively. Agonists operating via the adenylate cyclase pathway or cell permeable cAMP analogues inhibit T cell activation by interfering with the PI-turnover. We have shown that dbcAMP inhibits PI-independent mitogenic signals in T cells after stimulation with TPA plus ionomycin. dbcAMP inhibited the TPA plus ionomycin-induced transcription of IL-2 and IL-2R genes in EL4 cells, suggesting interference with biochemic events downstream to PI hydrolysis and upstream to transcription of early activation genes. Because many of the early genes operating in T cell mitogenesis possess a TPA-response element (TRE) in their promoter region, we tested the effect of cAMP on the TRE-binding protein, TPA-response element (TRE) in their promoter region, we tested the effect of cAMP on the TRE-binding protein, AP-1. dbcAMP increased the binding activity of nuclear proteins consisting of Fos:Jun heterodimers to a TRE-containing oligonucleotide, but altered the composition of Jun proteins in the AP-1. Furthermore, the TPA plus ionomycin-induced transcription program of members of the jun and fos family of genes was altered by dbcAMP, suggesting that inhibition of T cell proliferation by dbcAMP is a consequence of intervention in transcriptional regulation by TRE-binding proteins.