Via a transient expression assay system, an experimental study was undertaken to characterize the effects of insect ecdysone and juvenile hormone analogue on the transient expression of the luciferase gene under the control of the immediate-early gene (ie-1) promoter of Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. The results demonstrated that the transcriptional activity of the ie-1 promoter was increased to a certain extent by different insect hormone treatments in uninfected insect cells or fifth instar silkworm larvae transfected with a plasmid containing a luciferase gene driven by the ie-1 promoter. By ecdysone treatment alone, an increase of 5-7 fold was reached in Bm-N, or Bm-5 cells, or in the early developmental stage of fifth instar larvae. By treatment with juvenile hormone analogue alone, about 2-fold, in Bm-N, Bm-5, and Sf-21 cells, or about 5-fold increase in the middle developmental stage of larvae was given, respectively. By co-treatment with ecdysone and juvenile hormone analogue, the incease was given between that of ecdysone and juvenile hormone analogue treatment alone. In addition, the synergistic effects of foreign/endogenous hormones on the activity of ie-1 promoter are discussed.