Table 3.

Steroid regulation of LOX in ovarian and urogenital cells and tissues and in fetal membrane rupture.

Steroid Hormones	Regulatory Activity	Signaling Pathways Involved	Refs.
Follicle stimulating hormone	FHS activation/inhibition of LOX mRNA/activity	Local dihydrotestosterone, GDF-9, activin A, and TFG-β1 (rat ovaries)	[73]
Estradiol (E2)	Intersection with TGF-β1/LOX	TGF-β- mediated E2 upregulation of LOX gene expression (mouse urogenital tissue, Ishikawa cells)	[75]
Cortisol	LOX inhibition by cortisol induced PGE2 and 11β-HSD1	Regulation via the negative steroid LOX promoter element (amniotic fibroblasts and tissue, fetal membrane rupture)	[76]
Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)	PGE2-induced feed-forward loop targeting LOX	EP2/EP4 receptor-coupled cAMP/PKA pathway (amniotic fibroblasts, fetal membrane rupture)	[77]

FHS: Follicle stimulating hormone; E2: estradiol; PGE2: prostaglandin E2; 11β-HSD: 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase; EP2& 4: prostaglandin E2& 4 receptors; cAMP: cyclic adenosine monophosphate; PKA: protein kinase A; GDF: growth and differentiation factor; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; IL: interleukin; IFN: interferon; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; TGF-β: transforming growth factor beta; PI3K: phosphoinositide 3-kinase; ERK: extracellular signal-regulated kinase; JNK: Jun N-Terminal Kinase; p38MAPK: P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase; NF-κB: Nuclear Factor kappa B; PI3K: phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase FAK: focal adhesion kinase; JAK: Janus kinase; : Flil: flagellar protein; Dnmt1: DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 1; LOX: lysyl oxidase.