The gene encoding β-Klotho (KLB) has recently been associated with alcohol consumption in a large meta-analysis of >105 000 Europeans. Schumann et al.15 found that brain-specific klb-knockout mice have increased alcohol preference. They also found that β-Klotho is a receptor for the liver-expressed hormone FGF21 that acts on the brain and inhibits alcohol consumption in mice. We are not aware of any sample overlap between UKB and the sample used in the study by Schumann et al.15. GS individuals were present in the GWAS reported by Schumann et al.15 but GS individuals identified in the UKB sample were removed before GWAS analysis. The study by Schumann et al.15 identified rs11940694 to be associated with alcohol consumption and this is the same SNP we report as associated in this sample. We therefore provide evidence of replication of the association of this variant with alcohol consumption. An additional SNP (rs9991733) in KLB was associated with alcohol consumption in UKB; however, the minor allele of this SNP conferred risk for high consumption rather than protection. This SNP is in low LD with rs11940694 (r2=0.21, D’=0.87); however, conditional SNP analyses showed that these associations were not completely independent.
