Assessment of MSX2 immunoreactivity indicated statistically significant differences in the number of MSX2 positive cells in the epithelium between the controls and each of the cleft affected tissue groups while statistically significant differences were also found in the number of MSX2 containing connective tissue cells between the controls and the unilateral cleft lip tissue group and between the controls and the cleft palate tissue group but not between controls and bilateral cleft lip tissue group. Here, MSX2 is linked to cleft palate.