Effects of HOXA10 knockdown on expression of IL-15 in decidualized human endometrial stromal cells. Human endometrial stromal cells were decidualized by treatment with estradiol and progesterone (steroid treated) for 21 days. (a) Expression of IGFBP-1, prolactin, and IL-15 in the culture supernatants and (b) the level of HOXA10 mRNA are compared in stromal and decidualized cells. In (a) and (b), the values on the y-axis are expressed as fold change with respect to untreated controls. HOXA10 was knocked down by siRNA transfection in decidualized cells, and levels of HOXA10 mRNA and protein after 72 hours of transfection are shown in (c). (d) IL-15 mRNA and protein expression in the HOXA10-silenced decidualized cells. In (c) and (d), the values on the y-axis are expressed as fold change with respect to scrambled transfected control. In all the graphs, each dot represents one sample, and the data are derived out of four biological replicates. Values that are statistically significant are denoted by respective bars along with the respective P values.