Bone cells are a prime target for the biological function of the fos/jun (activating protein-1 (AP-1)) transcription factor complex. Deregulated expression of c-fos or v-fos in bone cells induces tumorigenicity and the formation of non-metastatic osteosarcomas. In contrast, fos oncogenes transform fibroblasts to an invasive phenotype accompanied by the expression of various invasion- and metastasis-associated genes. Here we compared the expression of AP-1-dependent genes and AP-1 activity in cell lines from fos-induced, radiation-induced, and spontaneous osteosarcomas. We showed that the presence of high AP-1 activity was not sufficient for the induction of invasion- and metastasis-associated AP-1-dependent genes in transformed bone cells. Further, we identified the collagenase I and stromelysin 1 gene promoters as suitable tools for the analysis of other factors regulating metastatic progression of osteosarcoma.