Association of nucleotide variants of GRHL3, IRF6, NAT2, SDC2, BCL3, and PVRL1 genes with nonsyndromic cleft lip with/without cleft palate in multigenerational families: A retrospective study

Background: Several genes are associated with the etiology of cleft lip and palate (CLP) in different populations. Many nucleotide variants on genes such as GRHL3, IRF6, NAT2, SDC2, BCL3, and PVRL1 were reported in different populations, but not studied in multigenerational cases in the Indian population. Aim and Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether nucleotide variants rs41268753, rs861020, rs1041983, rs1042381, rs2965169, and rs10790332 are involved in the etiology of nonsyndromic CLP (NSCLP) in multigenerational Indian families. Study Design: Retrospective genetic study. Materials and Methods: Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 multigenerational families with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) were selected. Blood samples from both affected and unaffected participants were collected as a source of genomic DNA. Six nucleotide variants on these genes were genotyped to test for the association with NSCL/P. Genotyping was performed with the MassArray method. Genotype distribution was used to calculate the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium using PLINK, a whole-genome association analysis toolset. The allelic association was compared among cases and controls using Chi-square test as implemented in PLINK. P <= 0.05 indicates statistical differences between groups. Results: No significant associations were found between individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms and NSCL/P. The odds ratio was 1.531, 1.198, 0.8082, 1.418, 1, and 0.5929 for polymorphisms rs41268753, rs861020, rs1041983, rs1042381, rs2965169, and rs10790332, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that among the multigenerational families in our population, the high-risk nucleotide variants GRHL3 rs41268753, IRF6 rs861020, NAT2 rs1041983, SDC2 rs1042381, BCL3 rs2965169, and PVRL1 rs10790332 are not associated with increased risk of NSCL/P.