Our findings are in line with the role of MT1-MMP as an activator of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in other pathophysiological contexts such as development, cancer, and lung fibrosis (Garmon et al., 2018; Nguyen et al., 2016; Xiong et al., 2017). The gene discussed is MMP14; the disease is pulmonary fibrosis.