Associations Between Immunological Biomarkers, Voice Use Patterns, and Phonotraumatic Vocal Fold Lesions: A Scoping Review

Objectives: This review aims to explore potential associations between immunological biomarkers and phonotraumatic vocal fold lesions.

Study design: Scoping review.

Methods: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, Proquest Theses and Dissertations, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched using the terms "vocal fold" and "inflammatory marker" initially, and later "development" and "phonotraumatic lesion." Papers were included for review if they were published in the last 20 years in English language, used human cell lines or biological samples, and outcomes were measured objectively using immunological biomarkers.

Results: In total, 4107 papers were identified for screening. The automation tools EndNote and Covidence removed 1257 duplicates. A further 2687 papers were excluded by reviewers at the title and abstract screening stage. The remaining 62 papers underwent full-text screening and 28 publications were ultimately included in the review.

Conclusions: Research concerning the possible association between immunological biomarkers and phonotraumatic lesions is still in its early stages, largely due to difficulty obtaining biological vocal fold samples in a safe and noninvasive manner, and challenges in identifying laboratory techniques that are sensitive enough to detect concentrations of biomarkers in small volumes of vocal fold samples. Signaling molecules are likely the most promising biomarkers to investigate the role of voice use patterns in the development of phonotraumatic lesions due to relatively rapid shifts in response to host conditions. Future research would benefit from control of potential systemic contributions to laryngeal manifestations of inflammation.