We also found a borderline significant interaction between CHRNA5 rs3841324 genotypes and smoking status (P = 0.080), and a significant interaction between CHRNA5 rs3841324 genotypes and age (P = 0.002); however, there was no evidence for an interaction between the CHRNA5 variant genotypes and gender (P = 0.373) or drinking status (P = 0.510) on the risk of NPC. Here, CHRNA5 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.