Incidence Assessment of MTHFR C677T and A1298C Polymorphisms in Iranian Non-syndromic Cleft Lip and/or Palate Patients

Background and aims. The aim of the present study is to determine the incidence of MTHFR C677 T and A1298C muta-tions in Iranian patients with cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Materials and methods. We screened 61 Iranian patients with cleft lip and/or cleft palate for mutations in the two alleles of MTHFR gene associated with cleft lip and/or palate: A1298C and C677T, using Polymerase Chain Reaction following by RFLP. Results. The 677T and 1298C homozygote genotypes showed a frequency of 36.1% and 11.4%, respectively. Combined genotype frequencies in newborns having oral clefts showed that the highest genotype was 677TT/1298AA (22.9%) and 677TT/1298CC genotypes were not observed. Conclusion. The results showed that 65.6% of all patients had at least one T mutant allele in C677T and 58.9% C mutant allele for A1298C. According to the frequencies of homozygosity of mutant alleles, it could be said that MTHFR genotype of 677TT shows a greater role in having oral clefts.