Fusion proteins for use as ligand-dependent transcriptional regulators are provided. The fusion proteins include a nucleotide binding domain operatively linked to a ligand-binding domain. They also can include a transcription regulating domain. The nucleotide binding domain is a zinc-finger peptide that binds to a targeted contiguous nucleotide sequence of from 3 to about 18 nucleotides are provided. The fusion proteins are used for gene therapy. Also provided are polynucleotides encoding the fusion proteins, expression vectors, and transfected cells.