Fig. 1

A schema showing a flow chart of the study design. In the present study, endometriosis-free patients (group 1) and patients with ovarian endometriosis (group 2) were recruited from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology OPD, and the endometrial samples were collected according to the WERF EPHect guidelines and annotated according to fertility status and cycle phase. The transcript and protein expression profiles for NR5A1/SF-1, STAR/StAR, CYP19A1/aromatase, HSD17B1/17β-HSD1, HSD17B2/17β-HSD2, ESR1/ERα, ESR2/ERβ and PGR/PRA and PRB, as well as concentrations of progesterone (P4), testosterone (T), estrone (E1), estraiol-17β (E2) in the tissue samples, were determined using qRT-PCR, Western blot and steroid ELISAs, respectively. Data were analyzed and compared between the main groups (groups 1 and 2) and stratified according to the presence of stages III-IV ovarian endometriosis (OE). Data were also analyzed and compared between the subgroups and stratified according to the fertility status (groups 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B) and phase of the menstrual cycle (groups 1C, 1D, 2C and 2D), and the aforementioned subgroups were pooled for a combinatorial analysis