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Bone, Joint and Cancer
Laboratory Head
Professor Matthew Gillespie PhD
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About this Laboratory
Bone diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis and most cancers of bone result in a reduction in bone mass that can lead to fractures. We seek to identify the pathways that are required to build bone or limit bone destruction, and how the cells in the bone microenvironment communicate with each other. Ultimately, we aim to identify new factors or ways to promote bone formation.
Related to Research Themes
Cancer , Genes & Healthy Development , Women's Health
Current Research
Spread of cancers to bone - We aim to identify why some cancers, particularly those of the breast, have a predilection to bone, and determine mechanisms to limit tumour growth in bone.
Role of osteoprotegerin in breast cancer growth - We identified that osteoprotegerin expression by breast cancers enhances their growth in the breast and bone. We aim to identify how osteoprotegerin enhances tumour growth and the role of stromal cells in this process.
Apo2L/TRAIL as a regulator of cell death in transformed cells - We have identified that PTHrP expression by breast cancers modulates tumour response to TRAIL. We aim to identify the mechanism by which PTHrP confers enhanced TRAIL sensitivity.
Prevention of bone loss - We have defined several factors that inhibit osteoclast formation and wish to identify their mechanism of action and their function upon other cells in bone. This will advance knowledge about the biology of the osteoclast and mechanism to reduce bone loss.
Factors affecting osteoblast differentiation - Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is currently the best available drug to build new bone. We have identified several osteoblast targets of PTH action and determined their ability to influence osteoblast differentiation and maturation with the view to assess these for their ability to build new bone.