ABCG8 and gallstones: On the contrary, as found by a genome-wide association study in a large cohort of patients with gallstones, as well as by a linkage study in affected sibling pairs, several variants in either ABCG5 or ABCG8 are associated with hepatic cholesterol hypersecretion, thereby leading to the development of cholesterol-supersaturated gallbladder bile and the formation of gallstones [42,43].