Association of Betaine-Homocysteine S-Methyl Transferase (rs3797546 and rs3733890) polymorphisms with non-syndromic cleft lip/palate: A meta-analysis

Objective > Non-syndromic cleft lip/palate (NSCL/P) has a multifactorial and polygenic aetiology. The role of genetics in its occurrence has not been fully clarified. The present meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association of betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) polymorphisms (rs3797546 and rs3733890) with the risk of NSCL/P. Materials and methods > PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for articles published up until December 2018 with no language restriction. Quality evaluation of each study was performed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The crude odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each study by RevMan 5.3 software, and a funnel plot analysis was performed by the CMA 2.0 software using the Egger's and Begg's tests. Results > Review of the four selected studies revealed that the CC genotype of rs3797546 polymorphism significantly increased the risk of NSCL/P. No association was noted between NSCL/P risk and rs3733890 polymorphism except in Chinese (elevated risk of NSCL/P) and Polish (decreased risk of NSCL/P) populations. Conclusions > According to the present meta-analysis, rs3733890 polymorphism does not play a role in susceptibility to NSCL/P; whereas, rs3797546 polymorphism may play a role in susceptibility to NSCL/P. Future studies are required to examine the association between BHMT polymorphisms and the NSCL/P risk in different ethnicities with a larger sample size.