The downregulation of miR-323a-3p is found in lung epithelium from IPF patients, and its overexpression in IPF mouse models reduces fibroproliferation via directly targeting its targets TGFA and SMAD2 and modulation of various profibrotic signaling such as TGF-α, TGF-β, and apoptosis (Ge et al., 2016). Here, SMAD2 is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.