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OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate whether there was a correlation between the expression of GATA binding protein 3 (GATA-3) and the proliferation of endometrium cells from women with endometriosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Endometrial tissue was collected from 20 women with endometriosis (experimental group) and 10 women without endometriosis (control group). The primary endometrial cells were then cultured and identified. Each group of cells were further divided into four groups. The control group was divided into control-no treatment (C-N), control-negative control (C-NC, transfected with a scrambled siRNA negative control), control-lentiviral transfection control (C-LC) and control-GATA-3 lentiviral transfection (C-G3); the experimental group was divided into experiment-no treatment (E-N), experiment-negative control (E-NC), experiment-lentiviral transfection control (E-LC) and experiment-siGATA-3 lentiviral transfection (E-siG3). RT-PCR and western blot were used respectively to detect the endometrium cells' GATA-3 mRNA and protein expression. Further, Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to measure the endometrium cells' proliferation. RESULTS The relative expression of GATA-3 mRNA and protein in the E-N group was significantly higher than in the D-N group and E-siG3 group (P < 0.05). The relative cell proliferation rate in the C-G3 group at 48 h, 72 h and 96 h was significantly higher than in the C-N, C-NC and C-LC groups (P < 0.05), while in the experimental group, the proliferation rate of the E-siG3 group was significantly lower than in the E-N, E-NC and E-LC groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests the role of GATA-3 in promoting proliferation of endometrial cells; therefore, GATA-3 may play an essential role in the development of endometriosis.