We found that the CASP8 -652 6N ins/del polymorphism was associated with decreased overall cancer risk in five genetic models [DD vs. II: odds ratio (OR)=0.76, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.69–0.84, ID vs. II: OR=0.87, 95% CI=0.83–0.92, DD vs. ID/II: OR=0.82, 95% CI=0.75–0.89, ID/DD vs. II: OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.80–0.90, and D vs. I: OR=0.87, 95% CI=0.83–0.91]. Here, CASP8 is linked to cancer.