PGs are local regulators of various cellular functions. They exert their effects via specific PG receptor subtypes. Induction of c-fos gene expression has been described for arachidonic acid and its metabolite PGE2. We demonstrate that another very short half-lifed prostanoid metabolite, namely prostacyclin (PGI2), is a regulator of immediate-early genes. PGI2 transiently induced the growth-associated immediate-early genes c-fos and egr-1 in osteoblastic as well as fibroblastic cell lines. Furthermore, we showed that PGI2 dose dependently stimulated new DNA synthesis in the osteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1. Although PGI2 is known to be a potent inducer of cyclooxygenases, we showed that this pathway is not necessary for protooncogene induction by PGI2. Our data indicate a direct effect of PGI2 on immediate-early gene expression, which does not depend on the synthesis of other prostanoids. Intracellular signal transduction mechanisms were studied with the protein kinase inhibitor H-7, a potent inhibitor of PGI2-induced c-fos expression. Experiments with phorbol esters revealed that protein kinase C activity is not obligatory for the effect of PGI2 on c-fos expression. We conclude from these results that PGI2, a rapidly inactivated prostanoid, has a major impact on cellular oncogene expression and growth in mesenchymally derived cells.