Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 May 27.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Reprod Med. 2012 Jan 23;30(1):39–45. doi: 10.1055/s-0031-1299596

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Epigenetic regulation of the estrogen receptor (ER)β gene and its downstream effects in endometriosis. In endometriotic stromal cells, a dense CpG island at ERβ promoter remains in an unmethylated state. This is associated with the presence of a transcriptional enhancer complex, which activates this promoter. In endometrial stromal cells, in contrast, this CpG island is heavily methylated and suppresses ERβ expression. In endometriotic cells, pathologically high ERβ levels suppress ERα and progesterone receptor (PR) (dotted lines) and stimulate cyclo-oxygenase (COX)2 expression (solid line).