As FL BARD1 mediates apoptosis by binding to and stabilizing p53, and BARD1-repressed cells are resistant to apoptosis [16], and apoptosis of epithelial cells is thought to be one of the mechanisms leading to epithelial cell loss in fibrosis, we investigated FL BARD1 expression and its association with apoptosis markers in fibrotic lung tissues of bleomycin treated mice. Here, TP53 is linked to fibrosis.