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Item Development of Alcohol Use Disorder as a Function of Age, Severity, and Comorbidity with Externalizing and Internalizing Disorders in a Young Adult Cohort(Hapres Limited, 2019) Nurnberger Jr., John I.; Yang, Ziyi; Zang, Yong; Acion, Laura; Bierut, Laura; Bucholz, Kathleen; Chan, Grace; Dick, Danielle M.; Edenberg, Howard J.; Kramer, John; Kuperman, Samuel; Rice, John P.; Schuckit, Marc; Psychiatry, School of MedicineBackground: As part of the ongoing Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism, we performed a longitudinal study of a high risk cohort of adolescents/young adults from families with a proband with an alcohol use disorder, along with a comparison group of age-matched controls. The intent was to compare the development of alcohol problems in subjects at risk with and without comorbid externalizing and internalizing psychiatric disorders. Methods: Subjects (N = 3286) were assessed with a structured psychiatric interview at 2 year intervals over 10 years (2004–2017). The age range at baseline was 12–21. Results: Subjects with externalizing disorders (with or without accompanying internalizing disorders) were at increased risk for the onset of an alcohol use disorder during the observation period. Subjects with internalizing disorders were at greater risk than those without comorbid disorders for onset of a moderate or severe alcohol use disorder. The statistical effect of comorbid disorders was greater in subjects with more severe alcohol use disorders. The developmental trajectory of drinking milestones and alcohol use disorders was also accelerated in those with more severe disorders. Conclusions: These results may be useful for counseling of subjects at risk who present for clinical care, especially those subjects manifesting externalizing and internalizing disorders in the context of a positive family history of an alcohol use disorder. We confirm and extend findings that drinking problems in subjects at greatest risk will begin in early adolescence.Item Exome chip meta-analysis fine maps causal variants and elucidates the genetic architecture of rare coding variants in smoking and alcohol use(Elsevier, 2018) Brazel, David M.; Jiang, Yu; Hughey, Jordan M.; Turcot, Valérie; Zhan, Xiaowei; Gong, Jian; Batini, Chiara; Weissenkampen, J. Dylan; Liu, MengZhen; Barnes, Daniel R.; Bertelsen, Sarah; Chou, Yi-Ling; Erzurumluoglu, A. Mesut; Faul, Jessica D.; Haessler, Jeff; Hammerschlag, Anke R.; Hsu, Chris; Kapoor, Manav; Lai, Dongbing; Le, Nhung; de Leeuw, Christiaan A.; Loukola, Anu; Mangino, Massimo; Melbourne, Carl A.; Pistis, Giorgio; Qaiser, Beenish; Rohde, Rebecca; Shao, Yaming; Stringham, Heather; Wetherill, Leah; Zhao, Wei; Agrawal, Arpana; Bierut, Laura; Chen, Chu; Eaton, Charles B.; Goate, Alison; Haiman, Christopher; Heath, Andrew; Iacono, William G.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Polderman, Tinca J.; Reiner, Alex; Rice, John; Schlessinger, David; Scholte, H. Steven; Smith, Jennifer A.; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Tindle, Hilary A.; van der Leij, Andries R.; Boehnke, Michael; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Cucca, Francesco; David, Sean P.; Foroud, Tatiana; Howson, Joanna M. M.; Kardia, Sharon L. R.; Kooperberg, Charles; Laakso, Markku; Lettre, Guillaume; Madden, Pamela; McGue, Matt; North, Kari; Posthuma, Danielle; Spector, Timothy; Stram, Daniel; Tobin, Martin D.; Weir, David R.; Kaprio, Jaakko; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Liu, Dajiang J.; Vrieze, Scott; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineBackground Smoking and alcohol use have been associated with common genetic variants in multiple loci. Rare variants within these loci hold promise in the identification of biological mechanisms in substance use. Exome arrays and genotype imputation can now efficiently genotype rare nonsynonymous and loss of function variants. Such variants are expected to have deleterious functional consequences, and contribute to disease risk. Methods We analyzed ∼250,000 rare variants from 16 independent studies genotyped with exome arrays and augmented this dataset with imputed data from the UK Biobank. Associations were tested for five phenotypes: cigarettes per day, pack years, smoking initiation, age of smoking initiation, and alcoholic drinks per week. We conducted stratified heritability analyses, single-variant tests, and gene-based burden tests of nonsynonymous/loss of function coding variants. We performed a novel fine mapping analysis to winnow the number of putative causal variants within associated loci. Results Meta-analytic sample sizes ranged from 152,348-433,216, depending on the phenotype. Rare coding variation explained 1.1-2.2% of phenotypic variance, reflecting 11%-18% of the total SNP heritability of these phenotypes. We identified 171 genome-wide associated loci across all phenotypes. Fine mapping identified putative causal variants with double base-pair resolution at 24 of these loci, and between 3 and 10 variants for 65 loci. 20 loci contained rare coding variants in the 95% credible intervals. Conclusions Rare coding variation significantly contributes to the heritability of smoking and alcohol use. Fine mapping GWAS loci identifies specific variants contributing to the biological etiology of substance use behavior.Item Genes associated with alcohol outcomes show enrichment of effects with broad externalizing and impulsivity phenotypes in an independent sample(JSAD, 2015-01) Aliev, Fazil; Wetherill, Leah; Bierut, Laura; Bucholz, Kathleen K.; Edenberg, Howard; Foroud, Tatiana; Dick, Danielle M.; Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, IU School of MedicineOBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate evidence for association with a panel of genes previously associated with alcohol-related traits in a new sample of adolescent and young adult individuals (N = 2,128; 51% female) collected as part of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). We tested for association with phenotypes related to externalizing behavior, including diagnostic symptom counts for disorders on the externalizing spectrum (alcohol dependence, conduct disorder, adult antisocial personality disorder, and illicit drug dependence), and related behavioral/personality traits (Achenbach Externalizing, NEO Extraversion, NEO Conscientiousness, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking, and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale) based on the substantial literature suggesting that these behaviors may be alternate manifestations of a shared genetic liability. METHOD: We tested for overall enrichment of the set of 215 genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for each of the phenotypes. We conducted secondary analyses comparing results for sensation seeking with results for the other phenotypes. RESULTS: For all phenotypes, there was significant enrichment of association results (p < .05) compared with chance expectations. The greatest number of significant results was observed with the phenotype Sensation Seeking. Secondary analyses indicated that the number of SNPs yielding p < .05 with Sensation Seeking was significantly greater than that observed for each of the other phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: We find evidence for enrichment of association results across a spectrum of externalizing phenotypes with a panel of candidate genes/SNPs selected based on previous suggestion of association with alcohol-related outcomes. In particular, we find significant enrichment of effects with sensation seeking, suggesting that this may be a particularly salient behavior associated with risk for alcohol-related problems.Item High Polygenic Risk Scores Are Associated With Early Age of Onset of Alcohol Use Disorder in Adolescents and Young Adults at Risk(Elsevier, 2022-10) Nurnberger, John I., Jr.; Wang, Yumin; Zang, Yong; Lai, Dongbing; Wetherill, Leah; Edenberg, Howard J.; Aliev, Fazil; Plawecki, Martin H.; Chorlian, David; Chan, Grace; Bucholz, Kathleen; Bauer, Lance; Kamarajan, Chella; Salvatore, Jessica E.; Kapoor, Manav; Hesselbrock, Victor; Dick, Danielle; Bierut, Laura; McCutcheon, Vivia; Meyers, Jacquelyn L.; Porjesz, Bernice; Kramer, John; Kuperman, Samuel; Kinreich, Sivan; Anokhin, Andrey P.; Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism; Psychiatry, School of MedicineBackground Genome-wide association studies have been conducted in alcohol use disorder (AUD), and they permit the use of polygenic risk scores (PRSs), in combination with clinical variables, to predict the onset of AUD in vulnerable populations. Methods A total of 2794 adolescent/young adult subjects from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism were followed, with clinical assessments every 2 years. Subjects were genotyped using a genome-wide chip. Separate PRS analyses were performed for subjects of European ancestry and African ancestry. Age of onset of DSM-5 AUD was evaluated using the Cox proportional hazard model. Predictive power was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves and by analysis of the distribution of PRS. Results European ancestry subjects with higher than median PRSs were at greater risk for onset of AUD than subjects with lower than median PRSs (p = 3 × 10–7). Area under the curve for the receiver operating characteristic analysis peaked at 0.88 to 0.95 using PRS plus sex, family history, comorbid disorders, age at first drink, and peer drinking; predictive power was primarily driven by clinical variables. In this high-risk sample, European ancestry subjects with a PRS score in the highest quartile showed a 72% risk for developing AUD and a 35% risk of developing severe AUD (compared with risks of 54% and 16%, respectively, in the lowest quartile). Conclusions Predictive power for PRSs in the extremes of the distribution suggests that these may have future clinical utility. Uncertainties in interpretation at the individual level still preclude current application.Item Meta-analysis of up to 622,409 individuals identifies 40 novel smoking behaviour associated genetic loci(Springer Nature, 2019-01-07) Erzurumluoglu, A. Mesut; Liu, Mengzhen; Jackson, Victoria E.; Barnes, Daniel R.; Datta, Gargi; Melbourne, Carl A.; Young, Robin; Batini, Chiara; Surendran, Praveen; Jiang, Tao; Adnan, Sheikh Daud; Afaq, Saima; Agrawal, Arpana; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Asselbergs, Folkert W.; Baumbach, Clemens; Bierut, Laura; Bertelsen, Sarah; Boehnke, Michael; Bots, Michiel L.; Brazel, David M.; Chambers, John C.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chen, Chu; Corley, Janie; Chou, Yi-Ling; David, Sean P.; Boer, Rudolf A. de; Leeuw, Christiaan A. de; Dennis, Joe G.; Dominiczak, Anna F.; Dunning, Alison M.; Easton, Douglas F.; Eaton, Charles; Elliott, Paul; Evangelou, Evangelos; Faul, Jessica D.; Foroud, Tatiana; Goate, Alison; Gong, Jian; Grabe, Hans J.; Haessler, Jeff; Haiman, Christopher; Hallmans, Göran; Hammerschlag, Anke R.; Harris, Sarah E.; Hattersley, Andrew; Heath, Andrew; Hsu, Chris; Iacono, William G.; Kanoni, Stavroula; Kapoor, Manav; Kaprio, Jaakko; Kardia, Sharon L.; Karpe, Fredrik; Kontto, Jukka; Kooner, Jaspal S.; Kooperberg, Charles; Kuulasmaa, Kari; Laakso, Markku; Lai, Dongbing; Langenberg, Claudia; Le, Nhung; Lettre, Guillaume; Loukola, Anu; Luan, Jian’an; Madden, Pamela A. F.; Mangino, Massimo; Marioni, Riccardo E.; Marouli, Eirini; Marten, Jonathan; Martin, Nicholas G.; McGue, Matt; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Moayyeri, Alireza; Moitry, Marie; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Naheed, Aliya; Nauck, Matthias; Neville, Matthew J.; Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard; North, Kari; Perola, Markus; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Pistis, Giorgio; Polderman, Tinca J.; Posthuma, Danielle; Poulter, Neil; Qaiser, Beenish; Rasheed, Asif; Reiner, Alex; Renström, Frida; Rice, John; Rohde, Rebecca; Rolandsson, Olov; Samani, Nilesh J.; Samuel, Maria; Schlessinger, David; Scholte, Steven H.; Scott, Robert A.; Sever, Peter; Shao, Yaming; Shrine, Nick; Smith, Jennifer A.; Starr, John M.; Stirrups, Kathleen; Stram, Danielle; Stringham, Heather M.; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Thompson, Deborah J.; Tindle, Hilary A.; Tragante, Vinicius; Trompet, Stella; Turcot, Valerie; Tyrrell, Jessica; Vaartjes, Ilonca; Leij, Andries R. van der; Meer, Peter van der; Varga, Tibor V.; Verweij, Niek; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Warren, Helen R.; Weir, David R.; Weiss, Stefan; Wetherill, Leah; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Yavas, Ersin; Jiang, Yu; Chen, Fang; Zhan, Xiaowei; Zhang, Weihua; Zhao, Wei; Zhao, Wei; Zhou, Kaixin; Amouyel, Philippe; Blankenberg, Stefan; Caulfield, Mark J.; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Cucca, Francesco; Deary, Ian J.; Deloukas, Panos; Angelantonio, Emanuele Di; Ferrario, Marco; Ferrières, Jean; Franks, Paul W.; Frayling, Tim M.; Frossard, Philippe; Hall, Ian P.; Hayward, Caroline; Jansson, Jan-Håkan; Jukema, J. Wouter; Kee, Frank; Männistö, Satu; Metspalu, Andres; Munroe, Patricia B.; Nordestgaard, Børge Grønne; Palmer, Colin N. A.; Salomaa, Veikko; Sattar, Naveed; Spector, Timothy; Strachan, David Peter; Harst, Pim van der; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Saleheen, Danish; Butterworth, Adam S.; Wain, Louise V.; Abecasis, Goncalo R.; Danesh, John; Tobin, Martin D.; Vrieze, Scott; Liu, Dajiang J.; Howson, Joanna M. M.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineSmoking is a major heritable and modifiable risk factor for many diseases, including cancer, common respiratory disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Fourteen genetic loci have previously been associated with smoking behaviour-related traits. We tested up to 235,116 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) on the exome-array for association with smoking initiation, cigarettes per day, pack-years, and smoking cessation in a fixed effects meta-analysis of up to 61 studies (up to 346,813 participants). In a subset of 112,811 participants, a further one million SNVs were also genotyped and tested for association with the four smoking behaviour traits. SNV-trait associations with P < 5 × 10−8 in either analysis were taken forward for replication in up to 275,596 independent participants from UK Biobank. Lastly, a meta-analysis of the discovery and replication studies was performed. Sixteen SNVs were associated with at least one of the smoking behaviour traits (P < 5 × 10−8) in the discovery samples. Ten novel SNVs, including rs12616219 near TMEM182, were followed-up and five of them (rs462779 in REV3L, rs12780116 in CNNM2, rs1190736 in GPR101, rs11539157 in PJA1, and rs12616219 near TMEM182) replicated at a Bonferroni significance threshold (P < 4.5 × 10−3) with consistent direction of effect. A further 35 SNVs were associated with smoking behaviour traits in the discovery plus replication meta-analysis (up to 622,409 participants) including a rare SNV, rs150493199, in CCDC141 and two low-frequency SNVs in CEP350 and HDGFRP2. Functional follow-up implied that decreased expression of REV3L may lower the probability of smoking initiation. The novel loci will facilitate understanding the genetic aetiology of smoking behaviour and may lead to the identification of potential drug targets for smoking prevention and/or cessation.Item Multi-ancestral genome-wide association study of clinically defined nicotine dependence reveals strong genetic correlations with other substance use disorders and health-related traits(medRxiv, 2025-02-03) Johnson, Emma C.; Lai, Dongbing; Miller, Alex P.; Hatoum, Alexander S.; Deak, Joseph D.; Balbona, Jared V.; Baranger, David A. A.; Galimberti, Marco; Sanichwankul, Kittipong; Thorgeirsson, Thorgeir; McColbert, Sarah; Sanchez-Roige, Sandra; Adhikari, Keyrun; Docherty, Anna; Degenhardt, Louisa; Edwards, Tobias; Fox, Louis; Giannelis, Alexandros; Jeffries, Paul; Korhonen, Tellervo; Morrison, Claire; Nunez, Yaira Z.; Palviainen, Teemu; Su, Mei-Hsin; Romero Villela, Pamela N.; Wetherill, Leah; Willoughby, Emily A.; Zellers, Stephanie; Bierut, Laura; Buchwald, Jadwiga; Copeland, William; Corley, Robin; Friedman, Naomi P.; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Gillespie, Nathan A.; Gizer, Ian R.; Heath, Andrew C.; Hickie, Ian B.; Kaprio, Jaakko A.; Keller, Matthew C.; Lee, James L.; Lind, Penelope A.; Madden, Pamela A.; Maes, Hermine H. M.; Martin, Nicholas G.; McGue, Matt; Medland, Sarah E.; Nelson, Elliot C.; Pearson, John V.; Porjesz, Bernice; Stallings, Michael; Vrieze, Scott; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C.; Walters, Raymond K.; Polimanti, Renato; Malison, Robert T.; Zhou, Hang; Stefansson, Kari; Potenza, Marc N.; Mutirangura, Apiwat; Shotelersuk, Vorasuk; Kalayasiri, Rasmon; Edenberg, Howard J.; Gelernter, Joel; Agrawal, Arpana; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineGenetic research on nicotine dependence has utilized multiple assessments that are in weak agreement. We conducted a genome-wide association study of nicotine dependence defined using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-NicDep) in 61,861 individuals (47,884 of European ancestry, 10,231 of African ancestry, 3,746 of East Asian ancestry) and compared the results to other nicotine-related phenotypes. We replicated the well-known association at the CHRNA5 locus (lead SNP: rs147144681, p =1.27E-11 in European ancestry; lead SNP = rs2036527, p = 6.49e-13 in cross-ancestry analysis). DSM-NicDep showed strong positive genetic correlations with cannabis use disorder, opioid use disorder, problematic alcohol use, lung cancer, material deprivation, and several psychiatric disorders, and negative correlations with respiratory function and educational attainment. A polygenic score of DSM-NicDep predicted DSM-5 tobacco use disorder and 6 of 11 individual diagnostic criteria, but none of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) items, in the independent NESARC-III sample. In genomic structural equation models, DSM-NicDep loaded more strongly on a previously identified factor of general addiction liability than did a "problematic tobacco use" factor (a combination of cigarettes per day and nicotine dependence defined by the FTND). Finally, DSM-NicDep was strongly genetically correlated with a GWAS of tobacco use disorder as defined in electronic health records, suggesting that combining the wide availability of diagnostic EHR data with nuanced criterion-level analyses of DSM tobacco use disorder may produce new insights into the genetics of this disorder.Item Multi-trait genome-wide association study of opioid addiction: OPRM1 and beyond(Springer Nature, 2022-10-07) Gaddis, Nathan; Mathur, Ravi; Marks, Jesse; Zhou, Linran; Quach, Bryan; Waldrop, Alex; Levran, Orna; Agrawal, Arpana; Randesi, Matthew; Adelson, Miriam; Jeffries, Paul W.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Degenhardt, Louisa; Montgomery, Grant W.; Wetherill, Leah; Lai, Dongbing; Bucholz, Kathleen; Foroud, Tatiana; Porjesz, Bernice; Runarsdottir, Valgerdur; Tyrfingsson, Thorarinn; Einarsson, Gudmundur; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F.; Webb, Bradley Todd; Crist, Richard C.; Kranzler, Henry R.; Sherva, Richard; Zhou, Hang; Hulse, Gary; Wildenauer, Dieter; Kelty, Erin; Attia, John; Holliday, Elizabeth G.; McEvoy, Mark; Scott, Rodney J.; Schwab, Sibylle G.; Maher, Brion S.; Gruza, Richard; Kreek, Mary Jeanne; Nelson, Elliot C.; Thorgeirsson, Thorgeir; Stefansson, Kari; Berrettini, Wade H.; Gelernter, Joel; Edenberg, Howard J.; Bierut, Laura; Hancock, Dana B.; Johnson, Eric Otto; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineOpioid addiction (OA) is moderately heritable, yet only rs1799971, the A118G variant in OPRM1, has been identified as a genome-wide significant association with OA and independently replicated. We applied genomic structural equation modeling to conduct a GWAS of the new Genetics of Opioid Addiction Consortium (GENOA) data together with published studies (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Million Veteran Program, and Partners Health), comprising 23,367 cases and effective sample size of 88,114 individuals of European ancestry. Genetic correlations among the various OA phenotypes were uniformly high (rg > 0.9). We observed the strongest evidence to date for OPRM1: lead SNP rs9478500 (p = 2.56 × 10-9). Gene-based analyses identified novel genome-wide significant associations with PPP6C and FURIN. Variants within these loci appear to be pleiotropic for addiction and related traits.Item Rare missense variants in CHRNB3 and CHRNA3 are associated with risk of alcohol and cocaine dependence(Oxford University Press, 2014-02-01) Haller, Gabe; Kapoor, Manav; Budde, John; Xuei, Xiaoling; Edenberg, Howard; Nurnberger, John; Kramer, John; Brooks, Andy; Tischfield, Jay; Almasy, Laura; Agrawal, Arpana; Bucholz, Kathleen; Rice, John; Saccone, Nancy; Bierut, Laura; Goate, Alison; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of MedicinePrevious findings have demonstrated that variants in nicotinic receptor genes are associated with nicotine, alcohol and cocaine dependence. Because of the substantial comorbidity, it has often been unclear whether a variant is associated with multiple substances or whether the association is actually with a single substance. To investigate the possible contribution of rare variants to the development of substance dependencies other than nicotine dependence, specifically alcohol and cocaine dependence, we undertook pooled sequencing of the coding regions and flanking sequence of CHRNA5, CHRNA3, CHRNB4, CHRNA6 and CHRNB3 in 287 African American and 1028 European American individuals from the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). All members of families for whom any individual was sequenced (2504 African Americans and 7318 European Americans) were then genotyped for all variants identified by sequencing. For each gene, we then tested for association using FamSKAT. For European Americans, we find increased DSM-IV cocaine dependence symptoms (FamSKAT P = 2 × 10−4) and increased DSM-IV alcohol dependence symptoms (FamSKAT P = 5 × 10−4) among carriers of missense variants in CHRNB3. Additionally, one variant (rs149775276Item Sibling Comparisons Elucidate the Associations between Educational Attainment Polygenic Scores and Alcohol, Nicotine, and Cannabis(Wiley, 2020-02) Salvatore, Jessica E.; Barr, Peter B.; Stephenson, Mallory; Aliev, Fazil; I-Chun Kuo, Sally; Su, Jinni; Agrawal, Arpana; Almasy, Laura; Bierut, Laura; Bucholz, Kathleen; Chan, Grace; Edenberg, Howard J.; Johnson, Emma C.; McCutcheon, Vivia V.; Meyers, Jacquelyn L.; Schuckit, Marc; Tischfield, Jay; Wetherill, Leah; Dick, Danielle M.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of MedicineBackground and aims: The associations between low educational attainment and substance use disorders (SUDs) may be related to a common genetic vulnerability. We aimed to elucidate the associations between polygenic scores for educational attainment and clinical criterion counts for three SUDs (alcohol, nicotine and cannabis). Design: Polygenic association and sibling comparison methods. The latter strengthens inferences in observational research by controlling for confounding factors that differ between families. Setting: Six sites in the United States. Participants: European ancestry participants aged 25 years and older from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Polygenic association analyses included 5582 (54% female) participants. Sibling comparisons included 3098 (52% female) participants from 1226 sibling groups nested within the overall sample. Measurements: Outcomes included criterion counts for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder (AUDSX), Fagerström nicotine dependence (NDSX) and DSM-5 cannabis use disorder (CUDSX). We derived polygenic scores for educational attainment (EduYears-GPS) using summary statistics from a large (> 1 million) genome-wide association study of educational attainment. Findings: In polygenic association analyses, higher EduYears-GPS predicted lower AUDSX, NDSX and CUDSX [P < 0.01, effect sizes (R2 ) ranging from 0.30 to 1.84%]. These effects were robust in sibling comparisons, where sibling differences in EduYears-GPS predicted all three SUDs (P < 0.05, R2 0.13-0.20%). Conclusions: Individuals who carry more alleles associated with educational attainment tend to meet fewer clinical criteria for alcohol, nicotine and cannabis use disorders, and these effects are robust to rigorous controls for potentially confounding factors that differ between families (e.g. socio-economic status, urban-rural residency and parental education).Item Variants near CHRNB3-CHRNA6 are associated with DSM-5 cocaine use disorder: evidence for pleiotropy(Nature Publishing Group, 2014-03-28) Sadler, Brooke; Haller, Gabe; Agrawal, Arpana; Culverhouse, Rob; Bucholz, Kathleen; Brooks, Andy; Tischfield, Jay; Johnson, Eric O.; Edenberg, Howard; Schuckit, Marc; Saccone, Nancy; Bierut, Laura; Goate, Alison; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of MedicineIn the U.S.A., cocaine is the second most abused illicit drug. Variants within the CHRNB3-A6 gene cluster have been associated with cigarette consumption in several GWAS. These receptors represent intriguing candidates for the study of cocaine dependence because nicotinic receptors are thought to be involved in generalized addiction pathways. Using genotypic data from a GWAS of the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE) dataset, we tested for association of CHRNB3-A6 SNPs with DSM-5 cocaine use disorder. Multiple SNPs in the region were significantly associated with increased risk of cocaine use disorder. Inclusion of the most significant SNP as a covariate in a linear regression model provided evidence for an additional independent signal within this locus for cocaine use disorder. These results suggest that the CHRNB3-A6 locus contains multiple variants affecting risk for vulnerability to cocaine and nicotine dependence as well as bipolar disorder, suggesting that they have pleiotropic effects.