Previous linkage and association studies of alcohol consumption or dependence measures have implicated the ALDH1A1 gene [1,2,8,10,11]. Although the majority of alcohol studies related to the aldehyde dehydrogenase family focus on ALDH2, particularly in Asian populations [25,26], recent studies[1,8,9] are shining light on the role that ALDH1A1 may play in several human alcohol-related traits. In the present study, we analysed eight SNPs located across ALDH1A1 (including one SNP in both the 50 and 30 UTRs) for an association with alcohol dependence status (using case-control methodology) and the quantitative AUDIT score in our male Finnish population.
