Though linkage and candidate gene studies have identified genomic regions and genetic variants associated with liability to AP, these findings have been inconsistently replicated, with the exception of variants in ADH and ALDH genes [12, 13]. More recently, numerous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted on alcohol-related phenotypes (e.g., [14–25]). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that meet stringent genome-wide significance criteria are seldom identified in these studies. Although small sample sizes almost certainly contribute to the paucity of “significant” results, the complex genomic nature of alcohol-related phenotypes likely also plays a role.
