Previous genome wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous pulmonary fibrosis-related SNPs, which were mainly idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)-susceptible SNP-harbouring genes such as MUC5B, AKAP13, DSP, FAM13A, DEPTOR, KIF15, and MAD1L1 (12–15). Here, MUC5B is linked to pulmonary fibrosis.