Singer’s Nodules : Investigating the Etiopathogenetic Markers Progressing Their Pathogenesis and Clinical Manifestations

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Date

2021-12-03

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Abstract

Vocal nodules (or Singer’s nodules) are benign vocal cord structures which are commonly encountered by clinicians. Though phonetic trauma/abuse is thought to be the main cause of the development of vocal nodules, the exact etiopathogenesis remains unknown. Hence, we compared the immunohistochemical markers for proliferation (Ki-67), apoptosis (TUNEL), growth (EGFR), ischemia (VEGF), inflammation (IL-1α and 10), and immunoreactive innervation (PGP 9.5), in vocal nodule tissue samples obtained from 10 females (17–56 years) and vocal cord tissue from seven controls. A statistically significant increase in Ki-67, TUNEL, EGFR, VEGF and IL-1α expression was noted (p < 0.05) between nodule tissue and control tissue in both epithelial and subepithelial layers. However, the difference was non-significant for both IL-10 and PGP 9.5 (p > 0.05). All markers demonstrated moderate to strong positive correlations, except for IL-10. These findings suggest increased cellular growth and proliferation in vocal nodules coupled with a persistent presence of inflammatory and ischemic environment. Furthermore, global prevalence of apoptotic cells and decreased anti-inflammatory cytokines highlight the presence of underlying complex mechanisms in the etiopathogenesis of vocal nodules, with age having a negligible impact on the marker levels. Our results could potentially further our knowledge in understanding the effects of different treatment modalities available at the cellular level.

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Funding Information: The support of Riga Stradins University (RSU) is greatly acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

proliferation, apoptosis, growth, ischemia, inflammation, innervation, immunohistochemistry, vocal nodules, 3.1 Basic medicine, 3.2 Clinical medicine, 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Immunology and Microbiology, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Citation

Pilmane, M, Sumerags, D, Jain, N, Jain, S & Sumeraga, G 2021, 'Singer’s Nodules : Investigating the Etiopathogenetic Markers Progressing Their Pathogenesis and Clinical Manifestations', Biology, vol. 10, no. 12, 1268. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10121268