Objective To explore the association of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of Ex2-659A/G of human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) with the incidence of gastric carcinoma. Methods Totally 168 patients of gastric carcinoma and 156 cancer-free controls were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Result The frequency of AA

AG

GG genotypes of hTERT Ex2-659A/G was 10.63%

47.5%

and 41.88% in gastric carcinoma patients and 15.13%

56.58% and 28.29% in controls

respectively. The OR for AG and AA genotypes was 0.519 (95% CI: 0.310-0.870

P=0.013)

0.550 (95% CI: 0.255-1.188

P=0.128) in comparison with GG genotype

respectively. There was significant difference in genotype distribution and allele frequency of Ex2659A/G polymorphism (χ2=5.373 4

P=0.020 4) between the 2 groups. Conclusion Our results indicate that Ex2-659A/G SNP of hTERT gene may be associated with reduced risk for gastric carcinoma.