Table I.

Abnormal expression of Bcl-2 family proteins in women with endometriosis.

Protein	Lesion Localization	Compartment	Phase	Expression	References
Bcl-2	Eutopic, peritoneal, ovarian, deep	Glands (+++) and stroma (+)	Proliferative and secretory	Increased in eutopic endometrium and further increased in endometriotic lesions, except cysts	Braun et al. (2007), Dufournet et al. (2006), Goumenou et al. (2004), Hassa et al. (2009), Nezhat and Kalir (2002)
Bcl-XL	Eutopic, peritoneal, ovarian	Undefined	Proliferative and secretory	Increased in eutopic endometrium and in endometriotic lesions	Braun et al. (2007), Nishida et al. (2005)
Bax	Eutopic, peritoneal, ovarian, deep	Glands (+++) and stroma (+)	Proliferative and secretory	Stronger in ovarian cysts versus other endometriotic lesions	Goumenou et al. (2004), Zubor et al. (2009)
Bcl-XS	Eutopic	Undefined	Proliferative	Increased in women with endometriosis	Zubor et al. (2009)

Bcl-2 and Bcl-X_L prevent apoptosis and increase cell survival, whereas Bax and Bcl-X_S induce apoptosis.

+++, high levels of protein.

+, low levels of protein.