COX isozymes and non-uniform neoangiogenesis: What is their role in endometriosis?

Andrea Caruana, Charles Savona-Ventura, Charles Savona‐Ventura, Savona-Ventura C, Jean Calleja-Agius, Jean Calleja‐Agius, Calleja-Agius J
Prostaglandins & other lipid mediators · 2023 · vol. 167 , pp. 106734 · doi:10.1016/j.prostaglandins.2023.106734 · PMID:37028470 · W4362632727
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-29 ⓘ

This review compares NSAIDs to placebo for endometriosis, finding NSAIDs more effective for pain relief and lesion regression, and postulates distinct roles for COX-1 and COX-2 in lesion development and pain.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

This literature review compared the efficacy in of NSAIDs with a placebo in pain relief and disease regression of endometriosis. Despite the poor evidence found, the results showed that NSAIDs were more effective in pain relief with regressive effects on the endometriotic lesions compared to placebo. We postulate herein that COX-2 is chiefly responsible for pain whilst COX-1 is responsible mainly for the establishment of endometriotic lesions. Hence, there must be a temporal difference in the activation of the two isozymes. We differentiated between two pathways in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins by the COX isozymes referred to as 'direct' and indirect', supporting our initial theory. Finally, we postulate that there are two stages of neoangiogenesis in the formation of endometriotic lesions; 'founding' that first establishes blood supply and 'maintenance' that upkeeps it. This is fertile ground for further research in a niche that needs more literature. Its aspects may be diversely explored. The theories we propose offer information for a more targeted treatment of endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (52)

Cited by (4)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:17:10.165071+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:14:59.915315+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:33:14.382917+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK