Transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta) inhibits the proliferation of a wide range of cell types through interaction with its cell surface receptor (R-TGF beta). R-TGF beta possesses serine/threonine kinase activity rather than the tyrosine kinase activity normally associated with peptide growth factor receptors; nevertheless, TGF beta triggers a signaling pathway that leads to the repression of transcription factors, which appear to mediate the action of receptor tyrosine kinases within the nucleus. Accumulating evidence has also shown that the nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinases of the Src family play essential roles in the signal transduction pathways that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and function. Here, we investigate whether signals initiated by R-TGF beta are transduced, at least in part, through members of the Src family of tyrosine kinases. Treatment of the responsive human prostate carcinoma cell line PC3 with TGF beta induces a rapid and specific decrease in cellular levels of pp60Src and pp53/56Lyn and a corresponding decrease in their protein kinase activity when the assays were performed in vitro using the exogenous substrate enolase. Consistent with suppression of pp60Src and pp53/56Lyn kinase activity, TGF beta also caused a substantial intracellular accumulation of the unphosphorylated form of SH2-containing protein (SHC), a substrate of the Src family kinases. This was paralleled by decreased formation of a complex between the adaptor protein known as growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 and SHC. These results suggest, for the first time, that TGF beta induces down-regulation of Src family kinases, leading to disruption of the SHC-growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 complex. These events may play a crucial role in the negative regulation of Ras, as well as in the control of downstream effector molecules involved in the regulation of cell growth.