There could soon be a treatment for cleft palates and lips that will be administered to fetuses in-utero.
Researchers at the University of Utah have discovered a radical way to treat mice with cleft palates while their mothers are still carrying them, and they are hopeful that a version of their treatment could soon be available for humans.
Cleft palates – which occur when the roof of a baby’s mouth does not fully develop – plague one in 700 children. And surgeries to treat them after a child is born do exist, but they are expensive, typically costing upwards of $5,000.
However, scientists have now found that the cleft palates of mice who are still in-utero can be fixed via in injection in their mothers’ tails, and they are optimistic that a similar tactic can be applied to people.
A research team at the University of Utah has discovered a way to cure mice with cleft palates before they are born. The team is hopeful that a similar cure for humans will soon be available (file photo)
About 7,000 children in the US are born with a cleft lip or palate each year, according to the CDC.
Cleft palates are among the most common major birth defects, coming in second to Down syndrome.
A cleft palate occurs if the roof of a baby’s mouth does not fully fuse together during its mother’s first trimester.
Children born with cleft palates have trouble breathing, eating and speaking and some experience hearing loss.
The team at the University of Utah discovered the roles that different genes play in the formation of children’s palatal shelves.
Researchers discovered that mice with cleft palates were lacking a gene called PAX9.
To counter this problem, the team injected pregnant mice carrying babies with cleft palates with a drug that acted to induce the function of the PAX9 gene.
Shihai Jia, who worked on the research, explained this process.
‘In PAX9 mutants, the cell grows slower than normal. The [new treatment] can go from the blood of the mom to the embryo,’ Jia said.
His team found that the palatal shelves of the mice in-utero were restored after these injections, and they were born without cleft palates. ‘We found the [treatment] has no side effects’ for the mother or her offspring, Jia said.
‘Now, the only thing we can do is multiple rounds of surgery,’ he said, referring to current cleft palate treatments.
But Jia added that the treatment his team pioneered could be used on mothers who have mutated PAX9 genes while they are pregnant.
He said: ‘We might use this [treatment] later if we know the parent has this defect.’
This new research comes on the heels of Kylie Jenner’s show of support for children born with cleft palates.
Kylie Jenner has supported a charity called Smile Train, which provides free cleft palate surgeries to children in low-income communities who would not be able to afford them otherwise. She is pictured here in Peru with one child, Mia, that the organization helped in May 2017
Last October, the 20-year-old reality TV star announced that she would be donating proceeds from her famous make-up kit to Smile Train, an organization that provides cleft palate surgeries for free to children who otherwise would not receive them.
While these surgeries are commonplace, children in developing countries often do not have access to them, due to financial or environmental constraints.
Jenner visited some of the children her donations have helped in Peru in May.
The children that Smile Train has benefited have been more widely accepted into their communities and they have excelled socially and academically since their operations.
About 170,000 children in developing countries are born with cleft palates each year.