Fig. 1: EMs specimens display considerably augmented levels of PTGIS/PGI2.
a Information from GEO datasets. The expression of PTGIS was elevated in most endometriotic lesions. b Nearly all types of EMs specimens displayed increased levels of PTGIS. c Ectopic ESCs had higher levels of PTGIS than normal ESCs in GEO datasets. d The gene expression level of PTGIS was increased in endometriotic lesions (n = 20) compared to the normal endometrium (n = 24), and ectopic ESCs (n = 12) had higher gene levels of PTGIS than normal ESCs (n = 12). e, f The protein level of PTGIS was substantially increased in endometriotic lesions and eESCs. g IHC staining was performed with samples of normal endometrium, eutopic endometrium of EMs and ectopic lesions of EMs, and it showed that PTGIS expression was elevated in the eutopic and ectopic endometrium. An immunofluorescence assay visualized the augmented PTGIS expression in eESCs. h–j Tissue lysates of endometriotic lesions (n = 16), peritoneal fluid collected from EMs (n = 29) volunteers and supernatants of eESCs (n = 12) exhibited higher concentrations of PGI2. k Upregulation of PTGIS expression in HESCs encouraged overproduction of PGI2. Statistical analysis was performed with Student’s t test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or the Mann–Whitney test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. NS no significant difference, GEO Gene Expression Omnibus, EMs endometriosis, nESC normal endometrial stromal cells, euESC eutopic endometrial stromal cells, ecESC ectopic endometrial stromal cells, NET normal endometrial tissues, EET ectopic endometrial tissues, eESCs ectopic endometrial stromal cells, IHC immunohistochemistry, DAPI nuclear stain. Scale bars: 100 μm and 30 μm for IHC and 100 μm for immunofluorescence.
