There is very strong evidence, both biochemical and genetic, that two coding variants in ADH1B that affect its kinetic properties (rs1229984 and rs2066702; ADH1B*2 and ADH1B*3 respectively) affect alcohol consumption and risk for alcohol dependence. Their effect on risk for AD is among the strongest of any variant. There is also good evidence for an independent effect of a coding variant in ADH1C (rs698 and rs1693482), although with less effect. There is weaker evidence that other ADH genes affect risk and consumption. Supplementary Table 1 shows ADH SNPs reported at p values < 10−6. The extensive LD in the region, however, makes association of specific SNPs other than the coding variants in ADH1B and ADH1C with AD difficult. Supplementary Figure 2 shows the strong LD among all of the SNPs in the ADH region that are listed in Supplementary Table 1. SNPs that lie within or near the other ADH genes, as well as some outside the area, are in strong LD with those coding variants, and might also act by altering expression of one of the ADH genes.
