Since secreted matricellular proteins like PAI-1 and SPARC are expressed by fibroblasts in fibroblastic foci, they are in the perfect biological context in IPF lung to influence lung epithelial cell behavior; therefore, we set out to recapitulate epithelial-fibroblast crosstalk using a compartmentalized Transwell system. Here, SPARC is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.