Oncogene-mediated premature senescence has emerged as a potential tumor-suppressive mechanism in early cancer transitions. Many studies showed that Ras and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) participate in premature senescence. Our previous work indicated that the HMG box-containing protein 1 (HBP1) transcription factor is involved in Ras-and p38 MAPK-induced premature senescence, but the mechanism of which has not yet been identified. Here, we showed that the p16 INK4A cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor is a novel target of HBP1 participating in Ras-induced premature senescence. The promoter of the p16 INK4A gene contains an HBP1-binding site at position− 426 to− 433 bp from the transcriptional start site. HBP1 regulates the expression of the endogenous p16 INK4A gene through direct sequence-specific binding. With HBP1 expression and the subsequent increase of p16 INK4A gene expression, Ras induces premature senescence in primary cells. The data suggest a model in which Ras and p38 MAPK signaling engage HBP1 and p16 INK4A to trigger premature senescence. In addition, we report that HBP1 knockdown is also required for Ras-induced transformation. All the data indicate that the mechanism of HBP1-mediated transcriptional regulation is important for not only premature senescence but also tumorigenesis.