In a collaborative effort with the IBN AL-NAFEES Hospital (Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic), individuals from multiplex families determined to have hereditary oral clefts will be studied. Healthy Syrian individuals with no family history of oral clefts will also be enrolled as a comparison group. The purpose of this study is to identify the gene(s) involved in heritable oral clefts by linkage analysis and gene mapping strategies. Characterization of genes involved in inherited oral clefts could provide important insight into the inheritance and pathogenesis of this disease. All families are enrolled into the study by our Syrian collaborators (under Ethics Board approval from the IBN AL-NAFEES Hospital) and only coded phenotype data and coded biospecimens are ever received at the NIH.
In a collaborative effort with the IBN AL-NAFEES Hospital (Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic), individuals from multiplex families determined to have hereditary oral clefts will be studied. The purpose of this study is to identify the gene(s) involved in heritable oral clefts by linkage analysis and gene mapping strategies. Characterization of genes involved in inherited oral clefts could provide important insight into the inheritance and pathogenesis of this disease.