The insulin gene promoter contains many transcriptional response elements that predispose the gene to a wide range of regulatory signals. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) stimulates insulin gene transcription by intracellular second messenger cascades leading to direct transcription factor activation or to the up-regulation of insulin promoter specific transcription factors. In these studies, we have identified a novel regulatory signaling mechanism acting on the rat insulin 1 promoter (rINS1) in the INS-1 beta-cell line. In the presence of stimulatory concentrations of GLP-1 (0.1--100 nM) on rINS1 activity, inhibition of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) using SB 203580 resulted in a marked increase in promoter activity (maximum 3-fold) over GLP-1 alone, as determined by rINS1 promoter-luciferase reporter gene expression. This effect was revealed to be mediated via the cAMP response element (CRE) of rINS1, because site directed mutagenesis of the CRE motif in rINS1 abolished the increased response to SB 203580. Furthermore, inhibition of p38 MAPK uncovered a similar, more pronounced, response in the expression of a generic CRE promoter driven reporter gene. Time course dose-response studies indicate that the p38 MAPK induced inhibitory response may involve expression of immediate early genes (IEGs); maximum repression of rINS1 activity occurred after 4 h of treatment, comparable with regulatory responses by IEGs. In conclusion, these results demonstrate a novel signaling mechanism whereby p38 MAPK represses rINS1 promoter activity in response to GLP-1, suggesting the involvement of a robust regulatory control by p38 MAPK in insulin gene expression. The relevance of this mechanism may be most apparent during periods of cellular stress in which p38 MAPK activity is stimulated. In this regard, reduced insulin expression levels caused by chronic hyperglycemia (glucotoxicity) and/or hyperlipidemia (lipotoxicity) may be a direct consequence of this mechanism.