A polymorphic marker associated with non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate in a population in Heilongjiang Province, northern China.

OBJECTIVE

To further assess the roles of the ABCA4 (ATP-binding cassette, sub-family A, member 4) gene in NSCL/P, we investigated two tag SNPs in ABCA4 (rs481931 and rs560426) in a northern Chinese Han population where the prevalence of NSCL/P is high.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The two SNPs were examined for association with NSCL/P in 344 patients and 324 healthy controls. Peripheral blood samples were acquired at study enrollment, and DNA samples were extracted. SNPs were genotyped using a mini-sequencing (SNAPSHOT) method.

RESULTS

We observed a significant correlation between the ABCA4 SNP rs560426 and NSCL/P (p=0.0041) but no evidence of association between rs481931 and NSCL/P. The G/G genotype at the rs560426 SNP in ABCA4 gene had an odd ratios of 2.39 (95%CI: 1.38-4.14, p=0.0041) compared with the A/A genotype, and a similar significance was noted in the CL/P subgroup (ORA/G=1.60, 95%CI: 1.09-2.34, ORG/G=2.96, 95%CI: 1.63-5.37 and ORG/G+A/G=1.80, 95%CI: 1.25-2.60, p=0.0007).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides further evidence regarding the roles of genetic markers in ABCA4 in NSCL/P development in this northern Chinese Han population. G allele of rs560426 may be a risk factor for developing NSCL/P.