The in vitro effects of two closely related phyto-oestrogens daidzein and equol on the oestrogen receptor positive human breast cancer cells MCF-7 were examined. There is differential metabolism of daidzein in humans, and the conversion of daidzein to equol by intestinal microbes occurs only in 30% of the population. The differential potency of these two compounds is thus of considerable importance since it may be likely that the relative risk of hormone-dependent cancers may be higher in 'non-responders'. In the present study, we compared the ability of both these compounds to induce mRNA expression of the oestrogen-responsive pS2 gene, to compete with oestradiol for binding to the oestrogen receptor (ER) and to affect cellular proliferation. Our studies demonstrate that equol is a 100-fold more potent than daidzein in stimulating an oestrogenic response. Equol was also more effective than daidzein in competing with 3H-oestradiol for binding to the ER. These results suggest that equol has a higher affinity for the ER. Both compounds stimulated the growth of MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner (10(-8)-10(-5)M). Although equol exhibits oestrogenic activity, exposure of MCF-7 cells to equol simultaneously with oestradiol was effective in reducing pS2 mRNA expression. This was not observed with daidzein. However, long-term exposure of MCF-7 cells to both daidzein and equol resulted in the downregulation of ER mRNA expression.