In conclusion, we present here preliminary but converging evidence across genes, gene ontologies, and other bioinformatic approaches, that liability to alcohol problems is influenced by genomic variation related to immune function. We observed evidence of enrichment in gene ontologies related to nervous system processes, which was complemented by findings that SNPs with lower p-values were enriched for localization to regulatory regions in nervous system tissues. Common genetic variants accounted for a small proportion of the phenotypic variance in alcohol problems in this population-based sample of emerging UK adults. The sample could be underpowered to detect variants of small effect; however, genes and gene ontologies meeting both suggestive and more stringent p-value thresholds provide insight to the etiology of alcohol use problems in this sample.
