“…We have previously studied the 19q13 region and have found a strong association with a marker in PVR in two independent cleft populations (South America, P =0.0007; and Iowa, P =0.0009) [Warrington et al, 2006]. Previous publications have also suggested the 19q13 region and the BCL3 gene [Stein et al, 1995;Amos et al, 1996;Maestri et al, 1997;Wyszynski et al, 1997;Martinelli et al, 1998;Yoshiura et al, 1998;Carreño et al, 2002;Gaspar et al, 2002;Marazita et al, 2002a, b;Blanco et al, 2004;Morkûniené et al, 2007] although a few studies did not replicate the association between the 19q13 region and clefts [Wong et al, 2000;Beaty et al, 2001;Fujita et al, 2004;Pezzetti et al, 2007]. Our results further support a gene contributing to clefts resides in this region, which appears to be upstream from 19q13 based on our preliminary linkage results.…”