TGFB1 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Recently, the mechanisms by which TGF-β1, a member of the TGF-β superfamily, promotes fibrosis have been well studied using the rodent model of bleomycin-induced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF); these mechanisms include the differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts and induction of type II AECs to undergo EMT to form myofibroblasts5, 19.