Investigate profibrotic regulators contributing to epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.
The idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lethal interstitial lung disease. IPF is characterized with excessive extracellular matrix accumulation and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. We aim to explore new profibrotic molecular regulators mediating epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and pulmonary fibrosis.  We identified 10 candidate genes and demonstrated key profibrotic regulators of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation.