Cleft of the lip and/or palate (CLP) is one of the most common congenital craniofacial defects. Non-syndromic CLP (NSCLP) is a multifactorial disease influenced by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. However, there are few studies reporting on the developmental or metabolic status of babies with NSCLP after birth. In our study, we sought to identify and evaluate the differential expression of serum protein profiles in NSCLP children and unaffected babies. Thus, a 'shotgun proteomics' approach was first used to analyze the plasma proteome of 13 children with NSCLP and 10 control children, aged 2 to 3.5 years. In total, more than 300 proteins were identified in the serum sample. With gene ontology (GO) analysis, we detected many differentially expressed proteins that could be related to NSCLP, including those involved in lipoprotein metabolism, insulin-like growth-factor-related processes, and so on, especially the proteins involved in retinol transport. Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), one protein of the retinol transport category, was significantly decreased in the NSCLP group. Thus, serum vitamin A levels were further determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A significant difference (p < .01) was also found in vitamin A concentrations, consistent with the trend of RBP4. Our results indicated that reduced levels of RBP4 and vitamin A were related to newborns with NSCLP and should thus receive more attention. These results also suggest that vitamin A supplementation might be necessary at an early stage.

The hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene (hpt) has been widely used in the process of plant genetic engineering to produce plants that can secrete the HPT protein. As part of a safety assessment, sufficient quantities of the protein were produced in Escherichia coli to conduct in vitro digestibility and animal studies. Western blotting analysis showed that the HPT protein was digested by simulated gastric fluid within 40 s. ELISA demonstrated that the protein did not induce detectable levels of specific IgE antibodies or histamine in test animals. Alignment of the amino acid sequence of HPT with those of known allergens did not produce evidence of sequence similarities between these allergens and the HPT protein. We conclude that HPT has a low probability to induce allergenicity.

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