Combined with the up‐regulation of miR‐503 in a mouse model of silica‐induced pulmonary fibrosis, we revealed that miR‐503 mitigated the TGF‐β1‐induced effects in fibroblasts by regulating VEGFA and FGFR1 and then affecting the MAPK/ERK signalling pathway. This evidence concerns the gene FGFR1 and pulmonary fibrosis.