Exome sequencing, emerging as a popular approach, has been widely applied to assess the associations of coding variations, both common and rare, with complex phenotypes.15, 40, 41 The present study first applied a targeted MHC sequencing to human cancer research followed by a two‐stage population‐based replication study, successfully identifying 5 SNPs with consistent associations and eventually pointing to a novel SNP rs117565607 at TRIM26, with the strongest association (OR = 1.9090, Pcombined = 2.750 × 10−19) and potential function. Here, TRIM26 is linked to cancer.