Diana Petrova Popova

Diana Petrova Popova


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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23 February 2023 in Journal of Clinical Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
GPGeorgi Kirilov Popov
Georgi Kirilov Popov
RARadoslav Aleksandrov
Radoslav Aleksandrov
VPVeronika Petkova
Veronika Petkova
RKRadka Kaneva
Radka Kaneva
RGRaina Tzvetanova Gergova
Raina Tzvetanova Gergova
DPDiana Petrova Popova
Diana Petrova Popova
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a condition affecting as much as 16% of the adult population in developed countries with many factors attributed to its development, including the more recently proposed role of bacterial biofilm infections. Plenty of research has been conducted on biofilms in CRS and the causes behind the development of such an infection in the nasal cavity and sinuses. One such probable cause is the production of mucin glycoproteins by the mucosa of the nasal cavity. To investigate the possible link between biofilm formation and mucin expression levels and their relationship with CRS etiology, we examined samples from 85 patients by means of spinning disk confocal microscopy (SDCM) to establish their biofilm status and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to determine MUC5AC and MUC5B expression levels. We observed a significantly higher prevalence of bacterial biofilms in the CRS patient group compared to the control group. In addition, we detected higher expression levels of MUC5B but not MUC5AC in the CRS group, which suggested a possible role for MUC5B in CRS development. Finally, we found no direct relationship between biofilm presence and mucin expression levels, thereby showing a multifaceted connection between these two major factors implicated in CRS etiology.