to refine association signals and also to increase the potential discovery of genetic variants. A second challenge is to integrate the findings from candidate gene studies and GWASs. The results from these two methods only have converged modestly, primarily with the alcohol-metabolizing genes, and the discrepancies should be resolved so that the high false-negative rate of GWASs can be balanced with the high false-positive results in candidate gene studies. Finally, the environment will always play an important role in the development of alcoholism by providing the exposure to and availability of alcohol. Therefore, it will be essential to integrate genetic predispositions with environmental exposures in order to better prevent and treat alcohol dependence, one of the Nation’s most devastating illnesses.
