Our study also shows how the HuGE Navigator and dbGaP databases can be used as tools by researchers to easily access and analyze information on candidate genes and GWA data. Beyond alcoholism, the HuGE Navigator provides an easy way for investigators to search over 2,000 diseases and 10,000 genes for summary information and primary articles about genetic associations and human genome epidemiology (Yu et al., 2008). The dbGaP database provides access to results of over 100 studies examining phenotype and genotype associations, including 40 GWAS studies on different diseases. Since dbGaP currently contains a limited number of GWA studies, researchers examining phenotypes not available in dbGaP may benefit from directly contacting the authors of relevant GWA studies and meta analysis. Because of this easy accessibility, researchers who intend to perform future candidate gene studies should reference the HuGE navigator to assess background information and use dbGaP and existing GWA data to test whether their gene of interest is replicated in GWA data. Candidate gene studies need replication to meet scientific standards. Simple dbGaP analyses may help to focus future research on genes that are supported by GWA data and therefore more likely to be biologically important for human disease.
