The 12q24 variant, rs4767364, is positioned in an extended region of LD that contains multiple genes. Candidate genes include the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) (Figure 2), another key gene in alcohol metabolism. The minor allele carriers of ALDH2 variants rs737280 and rs4648328, in LD with rs4767364 (r2 = 0.86 and 0.67, respectively), have been associated with differences in alcohol metabolism in Europeans, leading some authors to hypothesise [18] that these alleles have a similar, albeit more modest, effect in European populations to that of the ALDH2 rs671 variant linked to alcohol metabolism differences [10] in Asian populations. The increased UADT cancer risk we observed with the minor allele of rs4767364 (and rs737280 by imputation, Figure 2) is similar to the UADT cancer risk effect observed for heterozygote rs671 carriers [12], [13] and is consistent with this hypothesis. Nevertheless, this region contains many additional plausable candidate genes. Other GWAS have implicated multiple variants in this region in many phenotypes (type 1 diabetes, arthritis, renal function, hemoglobin concentration/hematocrit, coronary artery disease and waist-to-hip ratio) [19]-[26] and therefore the nature of the actual
