Since no previous studies investigated all of these candidate genes simultaneously in IPF, we resequenced these genes in a cohort of patients with IPF to test the hypothesis that mutations in the coding regions of these six genes occur at a higher frequency in IPF than in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or in population-based cohorts, and to determine if interactions among these genes and the MUC5B promoter polymorphism modified disease phenotype. Here, MUC5B is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.