PGC and gastric cancer: Our previous candidate gene association study investigated the association of pepsinogen C (PGC) and excision repair cross complementing group 6 (ERCC6) with the risk of gastric cancer, and found that PGC gene rs4711690 C→G, rs6458238 G→A, and rs9471643 G→C polymorphisms had protective effects against atrophic gastritis [4].