background: the polymorphic variants at codon 72 of the p53 gene, encoding proline or arginine at residue 72, produce marked changes in the p53 structure. from the evidence that the dna mismatch repair system and p53 interact to maintain genomic integrity, we hypothesized that codon 72 variations may influence the prevalence of microsatellite instability (msi), a feature of malignancies associa...