CD274 and cancer: However, it should also be noted that previous studies suggesting that PD‐L1 expression in gastric epithelial cells may be induced upon H. pylori infection were mostly reliant on cancer cell lines (AGS) and mouse models investigated after acute H. pylori exposure, while our population consisted of patients that had already developed various degrees of GIM indicating a fairly long‐term colonization of the gastric epithelium with H. pylori.25, 26