Role of proteins in MAPK pathways on Cleft Lip Patients of Protomalayid Race in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

Cleft lip is a disruption which happens in the upper lip joining process due to multifactorial causes such as genetic, nutritional, environmental, and socio-economic. East Nusa Tenggara is a province in Indonesia with Protomalayid race population that has a high incidence of cleft lip of 5-6 per 1000 births. This study therefore aims to determine the expression and relationship of proteins in the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway of cleft lip in the Protomalayid race of East Nusa Tenggara Province. The method used was Hematoxylin-Eosin staining and Immunohistochemical technique to identify the expression of Transforming Growth Factor Alpha (TGF-α) protein, Extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1), Activator Protein (AP-1), Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 (TGF-β1), p38, Soluble Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 1 (sVEGFR1), Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), and Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF- 2) in cleft lip cells. The result shows that the expressions of TGF-α, EGFR, FGF-2, and ERK-1 decreased, but that of AP-1, TGF-β1, p38, and SVEGFR1 increased. Meanwhile, the results of the Pearson correlation analysis showed the TGFα-ERK1, TGFβ1-p38, AP1-p38, EGFR-ERK1, and FGF2-p38 had a positive relationship. All the factors in the study have correlations (except FGF2 - ERK1). The relationship between FGF2-ERK1 was not significant, while SVEGFR1- p38 protein has a negative relationship.