Table 1.

Simulated Relative-Risk Calculation for a Standard Population of 1,000 Persons^[Note]

	No. of CancerDeaths	No. of Survivors	Total
Proline-allele carriers	147	392	539
Arginine homozygotes	83	378	461
Total	230	770	1,000

Note.—On the basis of the control genotypic frequencies reported by Bonafè et al. (1999), a relative risk of 1.5, and a cancer death rate of 23% (WHO 1987; Lopez 1990), the frequency of proline-allele carriers in survivors is .509 (a reduction of 3.0%). If the relative risk is raised to 2.0, the frequency of proline-allele carriers in survivors is .491 (a reduction of 4.8%). This model addresses only a role for p53 allelism in cancer as a cause of death. If limited to the major neoplasms indicated by Bonafè et al. (1999) (lung, colon, breast, and cervical), with a relative risk of 2.0, the frequency of proline-allele carriers in survivors is .526 (a reduction of only 1.3%). Also note that, if any association is limited to proline homozygotes, then, for a relative risk of 1.5, this fraction of the population would be expected to drop from .088 to .076 (a reduction of 1.2%). Bonafè et al. (1999), in fact, observed a drop of 2.0%, from .088 to .068.