Contact information
Collaborators
Helen Knowles
PhD
Senior Research Scientist
From a scientific background studying hypoxia in cancer and tumour-associated macrophages, I joined the department in 2006 as a post-doc in the group of Professor Nick Athanasou. It was then that I started studying osteoclasts; the cells responsible for causing pathological bone loss in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, bone metastasis and primary bone cancer. Because of my research background, I started investigating the role of hypoxia and the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor, HIF, in regulation of osteoclast formation and function within the context of primary bone tumours (EU Network of Excellence, EuroBoNeT) and then as an Arthritis Research UK Career Development Fellow in the context of rheumatoid arthritis. I am now working on two related projects; (i) investigating the potential of the osteoclast-inhibiting bisphosphonates to act as anti-aging drugs and (ii) determining how oxygen-loaded nanobubbles impact the effects of hypoxia on osteoclast differentiation and activity.
Key publications
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Angiopoietin-like 4 is over-expressed in rheumatoid arthritis patients: association with pathological bone resorption.
Journal article
Swales C. et al, (2014), Plos one, 9
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Hypoxia-inducible factor regulates osteoclast-mediated bone resorption: role of angiopoietin-like 4.
Journal article
Knowles HJ. et al, (2010), Faseb j, 24, 4648 - 4659
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Chondroclasts are mature osteoclasts which are capable of cartilage matrix resorption.
Conference paper
Knowles HJ. et al, (2012), Virchows arch, 461, 205 - 210
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Acute hypoxia and osteoclast activity: a balance between enhanced resorption and increased apoptosis.
Journal article
Knowles HJ. and Athanasou NA., (2009), J pathol, 218, 256 - 264
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Differential regulation of HIF-mediated pathways increases mitochondrial metabolism and ATP production in hypoxic osteoclasts.
Journal article
Morten KJ. et al, (2013), J pathol, 229, 755 - 764
Recent publications
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Use of oxygen-loaded nanobubbles to improve tissue oxygenation: Bone-relevant mechanisms of action and effects on osteoclast differentiation.
Journal article
Knowles HJ. et al, (2024), Biomaterials, 305
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Editorial: Advances in the endocrine role of the skeleton volume II.
Journal article
Rossi M. et al, (2023), Front endocrinol (lausanne), 14
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Mature primary human osteocytes in mini organotypic cultures secrete FGF23 and PTH1-34-regulated sclerostin.
Journal article
Knowles HJ. et al, (2023), Front endocrinol (lausanne), 14
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A New Method to Sort Differentiating Osteoclasts into Defined Homogeneous Subgroups.
Journal article
Hulley PA. and Knowles HJ., (2022), Cells, 11
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Aberrant paracrine signalling for bone remodelling underlies the mutant histone-driven giant cell tumour of bone.
Conference paper
Cottone L. et al, (2022), Cell death differ