PIEZO1 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: As one of the components of alveolar epithelia, type II pneumocytes have many functions, including surfactant production [24], immune function [25] as well as clearance of alveolar edema fluid [26] We observed that Piezo1 in type II pneumocytes was upregulated during ARDS, and our results as well as that of other published studies [27–30] indicated that apoptosis of type II pneumocytes increased and played a vital role in lung injury.