TY - JOUR T1 - Risk factors for gastric cancer: is it time to discard PPIs? JF - Gut JO - Gut SP - 176 LP - 177 DO - 10.1136/gutjnl-2017-315621 VL - 68 IS - 1 AU - Lucrezia Laterza AU - Franco Scaldaferri AU - Antonio Gasbarrini Y1 - 2019/01/01 UR - http://gut.bmj.com/content/68/1/176.abstract N2 - We read with great interest the paper by Cheung et al recently published in your journal.1 The extensive worldwide use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) makes the debate about a related risk of gastric cancer a very popular and current topic.2 Potentially, the PPI-induced reduction of acid content in the stomach may contribute to gastric cancer pathogenesis, possibly by increasing gastrin secretion, with a resultant constant trophic stimulus on the gastric mucosa, similar to Helicobacter pylori-related chronic atrophic gastritis.3 These conditions may both feasibly share a similar alteration of the gastric microbiota.4 However, evidence on this topic is not definitive: two meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials found no correlation between gastric cancer and long-term PPI use,5 6 whereas a meta-analysis of observational … ER -