Prostaglandin A(2) (PGA(2)), an experimental chemotherapeutic agent, causes growth arrest associated with decreased cyclin D1 expression in several cancer cell lines. Here, using human non-small-cell lung carcinoma H1299 cells, we investigated the mechanisms whereby PGA(2) down-regulates cyclin D1 expression. Transcription rates of the cyclin D1 gene, studied using a cyclin D1 promoter-luciferase construct and nuclear run-on assays, were not affected by PGA(2) treatment. Instead, the cyclin D1 mRNA was rendered unstable after exposure to PGA(2). Since the stability of labile mRNA is modulated through binding of proteins to specific mRNA sequences, we sought to identify protein(s) recognizing the cyclin D1 mRNA. In electrophoretic mobility-shift assays using radiolabeled RNA probes derived from different regions of cyclin D1 mRNA, we observed that (i) lysates prepared from PGA(2)-treated cells exhibited enhanced protein-cyclin D1 RNA complex formation; (ii) the kinetics of complex formation correlated closely with that of cyclin D1 mRNA loss; and (iii) binding occurred within a 390-base cyclin D1 3' untranslated region (UTR) (K12). This binding activity could be cross-linked, revealing proteins ranging from 30 to 47 kDa. The RNA-binding protein AUF1, previously associated with the degradation of target mRNAs, bound cyclin D1 mRNA, because anti-AUF1 antibodies were capable of supershifting or immunoprecipitating cyclin D1 mRNA-protein complexes. Finally, insertion of K12 in the 3'UTR of reporter genes markedly reduced the expression and half-life of the resulting chimeric mRNAs in transfected, PGA(2)-treated cells. Our data demonstrate that PGA(2) down-regulates cyclin D1 expression by decreasing cyclin D1 mRNA stability and implicates a 390-base element in the 3'UTR in this regulation.