The data highlight the enhanced inducible cytokine CXCL5 involved in neutrophil recruitment, tissue remodeling and COPD (Chen et al., 2019), and placental growth factor (PGF) which is induced in the lung hyperoxia response, involved in macrophage polarization and angiogenesis, and exacerbates pulmonary fibrosis (Zhao et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2020). Here, PGF is linked to pulmonary fibrosis.