<i>Alk2</i> is required during the decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells.

<p>Expression of decidual markers, <i>IGFBP1</i> (<b>A</b>) and <i>PRL</i> (<b>B</b>) in human endometrial stromal cells (hESC) cultured in growth medium (blue columns), treated with a hormonal cocktail containing estradiol, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and cAMP (EPC, green columns), treated with EPC after transfection of non targeting siRNA (red columns) or siRNA targeted to <i>ALK2</i> (purple columns). Day 0 and day 3 refer to EPC treatment; the siRNA transfections were performed at day −1 and −2. (* p<0.05, ** p<0.01). N = 3. <b>C–D</b>) Expression of <i>CEBPB</i> (<b>C</b>) and <i>PGR</i> (<b>D</b>) at day 0 and after 3 days of EPC treatment in cells treated with non targeting (NT) siRNA (black column) and siRNA targeted to <i>ALK2</i> (<i>ALK2</i> siRNA, red column) (* p<0.05). N = 3. <b>E</b>) CEBPB and PGR (isoform A and B) protein levels in NT siRNA-treated and <i>ALK2</i> siRNA-treated hESC, quantified by western blotting at day 0 and day 3 of EPC treatment. β-ACTIN was used as loading control. <b>F–H</b>) Expression of <i>HAND2</i> (<b>F</b>), <i>WNT4</i> (<b>G</b>) and <i>FOXO1</i> (<b>H</b>) at day 0 and day 3 of EPC treatment in NT siRNA-treated (black column) and <i>ALK2</i> siRNA-treated (red column) hESC (* p<0.05). N = 3. Experiments were performed on cells from 3 patients. Data are means ± SEM.