Table 1.

The factors that regulates COX-2 expression in EMS

Classification	Regulatory factor	Function	Reference
Estrogen		hastens COX-2 expression by activated by NF-κB	Maia et al.2012
Proinflammatory Cytokine	IL-1β	stimulates the phosphorylation of ERK, p38 and JNK and results in high level of COX-2	Tamura et al.2002 Huang et al.1998
	NGF	increases PTGS2/COX-2 mRNA and protein levels by binding to TrkA	Wang et al.2009 Peng et al.2018
Hypoxia		mediates DUSP2 down-regulation, activates ERKs and MAPK, and ultimately results in the hypersensitivity of COX-2	Wu et al.2005 Wu et al.2011 Teague et al. 2010 Lin et al.2012 Pan et al.2007 Hsiao et al. 2015
Environmental pollutants	PCBs	plays a role in the development of endometriosis	Porpora et al. 2013
	HCB	activates of cytosolic AhR complex (AhR-dioxin-c-Src), triggers PTGS2 transcription	Smith et.al. 1993 Deger et al.2007 Chiappini et al. 2016
Metabolites and metabolic enzymes	omega-3 PUFA	inhibits the activation of NF-κB and decreases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines to reduces COX-2 expression	Tomio et al. 2013 Attaman et al.2014
	IDO	up-regulates COX-2 expression via the activation of JNK signaling pathway	Mei et al.2013 Mei et al. 2012
	LXA4	inhibits COX-2 expression	Kumar et al. 2014
Platelets		increases IL-1β level and increases COX-2 expression	Ding et al. 2015
Others	COUP-TFII	binds to PTGS2 promoter to inhibit its transcription and IL-1β-induced COX-2 up-regulation	Li et al. 2013 Li et al. 2013