The objective of this study was to identify whether the miR-502-binding site single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 3 0 -untranslated region (3 0 -UTR) of set domain-containing protein 8 (SET8) and the tumor protein p53 (TP53) codon 72 polymorphism were associated with the risk for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), either independently or jointly, among Chinese people from southern Han. The genotypes of SET8 and TP53 codon 72 polymorphisms of peripheral blood DNA were detected using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and direct DNA sequencing in a case -control study on 164 NSCLC cases and 199 controls. The SET8 TT (odds ratio, OR 5 2.173, 95% confidence interval, CI 5 1.0454.517) or TP53 GG (OR 5 2.579, 95% CI 5 1.366 -4.870) genotype was associated with an increased risk of NSCLC by comparing with the SET8 CC or TP53 CC genotype, respectively. Similar results were obtained in SET8 recessive model (OR 5 2.074, 95% CI 5 1.019 -4.221, P < 0.05), and the dominant and recessive model of TP53 codon 72 were performed, respectively (OR 5 1.809, 95% CI 5 1.159 -2.825, P < 0.05; OR 5 1.933, 95% CI 5 1.096 -3.409, P < 0.05). In addition, interaction between the SET8 and TP53 polymorphisms increased the risk of NSCLC in a multiply manner, with the OR being 3.032 (95%CI 5 1.580 -5.816) for subjects carrying both SET8 TT and TP53 GG genotypes. Therefore, the miR-502-binding site SNP in the 3 0 -UTR of SET8 and the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism may be markers of genetic susceptibility to NSCLC in Chinese population, and there is a possible gene-gene interaction in the incidence of NSCLC.