Steroid hormone biosynthesis in the adrenal cortex is controlled by the peptide hormone adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), which acts to increase intracellular cAMP, resulting in the activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and subsequent increase in steroidogenic gene transcription. We have identified three proteins interacting with the human CYP17 cAMP responsive sequence (CRS): steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1), p54nrb, and polypyrimidine tract-binding protein-associated splicing factor (PSF). Nuclear extracts isolated from cAMP stimulated of H295R cells showed cAMP-inducible binding to the human CYP17 (hCYP17) CRS. This cAMP-inducible binding was dependent on a dual-specificity phosphatase (DSP). DSP activity was subsequently shown to be is essential for conveying ACTH/cAMP-stimulated transcription of several steroidogenic genes in the human adrenal cortex. We report here that the transactivation potential of SF-1 is also dependent on phosphatase activity; suggesting that SF-1 is dephosphorylated in response to ACTH/cAMP stimulation. Finally, we demonstrate a role for mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP-1), a nuclear DSP, in conveying SF-1-dependent transcription of an hCYP17 promoter-reporter construct in the H295R human adrenocortical cell line. We conclude that a DSP, possibly MKP-1, is essential for enhancing hCYP17 transcription in the adrenal cortex by desphosphorylating of SF-1, thereby increasing the binding affinity of SF-1, p54nrb, and PSF for the hCYP17 promoter.