biostudies-literatureZou HSpecial funds for clinical research from Affiliated Qingyuan Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Qingyuan People's Hospital79https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12801749biostudies-literatureUnknown31(1)Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive disease with poor survival, which is characterized by abnormal accumulation of fibrotic tissue in the lung parenchyma. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β) is a central profibrotic mediator, but the related mechanism of the activation of latent TGF-β has not been conclusively elucidated. A comprehensive study of mRNAs in human IPF was conducted using GSE10667 microarray data from GEO database, and the expression of cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP) was upregulated among end-stage pulmonary fibrosis (EPF) and acute pulmonary fibrosis (APF) as compared to non-fibrosis tissues. Furthermore, CILP has protein-protein interactions with TGF-β1 through PPI analysis. Therefore, we investigated the potential effects and mechanisEuropean journal of medical researchCILP attenuates pulmonary fibrosis through the TGF-β1/SMAD3 pathway.PMC12801749QYRYCRC2023005Zou HLi XFei CZhao RDong JLi PLiu CLiu FCheng JfalseCILP attenuates pulmonary fibrosis through the TGF-β1/SMAD3 pathway.Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive disease with poor survival, which is characterized by abnormal accumulation of fibrotic tissue in the lung parenchyma. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β) is a central profibrotic mediator, but the related mechanism of the activation of latent TGF-β has not been conclusively elucidated. A comprehensive study of mRNAs in human IPF was conducted using GSE10667 microarray data from GEO database, and the expression of cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP) was upregulated among end-stage pulmonary fibrosis (EPF) and acute pulmonary fibrosis (APF) as compared to non-fibrosis tissues. Furthermore, CILP has protein-protein interactions with TGF-β1 through PPI analysis. Therefore, we investigated the potential effects and mechanis2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Dec2026-06-10T05:04:16.986Z2026-06-10T03:07:11.033ZS-EPMC128017494138230710.1186/s40001-025-03644-7