The inconsistency of the findings from studies of the association between the 3 polymorphisms and colorectal cancer risk may be due to the linkage with functional genotypes of XRCC1. A study reported linkage between Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp, by showing that carrying the 399Arg allele appeared on the 194Trp allele in Taiwanese.6 We also observed a close linkage among the 3 polymorphisms. Here, XRCC1 is linked to colorectal cancer.