We detected the myofibroblast phenotypes in pulmonary fibroblasts isolated from CTD-UIP lungs, where cytokine/chemokine profiles are characterized with a remarkable increase in IL-6 secretion accompanied by chemokine up-regulation, indicating that the abnormal lung interstitial fibroblasts may disturb Treg differentiation whereby cytotoxic immune cells, such as NKT and CD8+ T cells, maintain activation in lung parenchyma. Here, CD8A is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.