Analysis of interactions between genetic variants of BMP4 and environmental factors with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate susceptibility

A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to identify interactions between the 538(T→C) polymorphic site of bone morphogenetic protein 4 gene (BMP4T538C) and exposures in pregnancy with nonsyndromic cleft lip, with or without cleft palate (nsCL/P). Associations between offspring polymorphism of BMP4T538C, paternal smoking, paternal high-risk drinking, maternal passive smoking, and maternal multivitamin supplement with nsCL/P were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. BMP4T538C polymorphism, maternal passive smoking exposures and maternal multivitamin use were associated with the risk of nsCL/P but paternal smoking and paternal high-risk drinking were not. Gene-environment interactions were analyzed using the multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method. The two-factor model including maternal passive smoking and BMP4T538C, was the best for predicting nsCL/P risk with a maximum cross-validation consistency (10/10) and a maximum average testing accuracy(0.605; P < 0.0001). The findings suggested that: BMP4T538C could be used as a genetic susceptibility marker for nsCL/P; maternal passive smoking exposure is a risk factor for nsCL/P; maternal multivitamin supplements are a protective factor; the synergistic effect of BMP4T538C and maternal passive smoking could provide a new tool for identifying individuals at high risk of nsCL/P, and provides additional evidence that nsCL/P is determined by genetic and environmental factors.