In comparing all IPF endothelial cells to all SSc-ILD endothelial cells, multiple pathways for cellular responses to metallic ions were distinctly upregulated in IPF (Figure 7C, Supplemental Figure 10B), driven by the increased expression of multiple metallothionine genes including MT1A, MT1X, MT1E, and MT1M in IPF endothelial cells, although all were expressed at even higher levels in control cells (Figure 7E). This evidence concerns the gene MT1E and interstitial lung disease.