In idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients, the aberrant activity of p53, TGF-beta, Hippo and Wnt pathway genes has been reported57, and a p53/p21 mediated cellular senescence program in AT2 cells, which is also reflected in the Krt8+ ADI signature, was recently proposed to drive progressive lung fibrosis in mice46. Here, KRT8 is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.