The cathepsin D gene is differentially regulated by estrogens in hormone responsive breast cancer cells, by progestins in normal human endometrium and is highly expressed but not regulated by these steroids in estrogen (RE)- and progesterone receptor (RP)-negative breast cancer cells. We have stably transfected the RE-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB 231 and the Hela cell line with an expression vector for the human RE. The endogenous cathepsin D which is constitutively expressed was further stimulated by estradiol. However, the growth of both cell lines was not stimulated by estradiol and could not be inhibited by the antiestrogen ICI 164,384. By contrast, the cathepsin D gene in the estrogen responsive Ishikawa endometrial cancer cell line was unresponsive to estrogen or to progesterone even following stable transfection of expression vectors for the RP (both A and B isoforms). We conclude that the cathepsin D gene is potentially responsive to estrogens in MDA-MB 231 and Hela cells, which therefore express all of the transcriptional machinery (except the RE) necessary for this regulation. By contrast, cathepsin D remains unresponsive to estrogen and progesterone in Ishikawa cells. The cathepsin D gene is one of the first examples of an endogenous steroid responsive gene which can be controlled by steroids following stable transfection of a steroid receptor.