It is highly possible that macrophages and neutrophils which constitute the major cell subpopulations in BALF from patients with IPF (30) exhibit increased h-TERT expression, which is in accordance with previous results from our group, where bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells from patients with IPF showed a trend for increased h-TERT expression compared with the healthy controls (31). Here, TERT is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.