While the finer details of these paracrine mechanisms may vary according to disease and tissue location, our identification of ZEB1 as a key regulator of EGF/RAS-induced EMT and an enhancer of paracrine signalling mediating the crosstalk between ATII cells and lung fibroblasts may help to find drug targets or biomarkers to intervene or predict the progression of pulmonary fibrosis. Here, EGF is linked to pulmonary fibrosis.