Gelernter J, et al. - In the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program, a genome-wide association study in 126,936 European American and 17,029 African American patients was completed for a quantitative phenotype based on maximum habitual alcohol consumption. Outcomes revealed five novel alcohol-use risk loci, with especially strong statistical support for CRHR1 (corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 1). For both populations, the lead locus was ADH1B, on chromosome 4: for the European American sample, rs1229984; for African American, rs2066702. Three additional genome-wide-significant maximum habitual alcohol consumption loci were identified in the European American sample: on chromosome 17, rs77804065, at CRHR1; involvement of the protein product of this gene in stress and immune responses was observed and on chromosomes 8 and 10. On meta-analysis of European American and African American samples, researchers noted an increase in the significance of the associated region at CRHR1 and found two additional genome-wide significant loci, FGF14 (chromosome 13) and a locus on chromosome 11. Genetic correlation to other alcohol-related traits, smoking-related traits, and many others was identified in post–genome-wide association study analysis.