Compared with the CC genotypes of each polymorphism, the associations of a slightly reduced risk of SCCHN with the variant genotypes of CT + TT of both polymorphisms were approaching statistical significance [Odds ratio (OR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.76-1.08 for TERT-rs2736098 and OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.71-1.04 for CLPTM1L-rs401681, respectively].