STAT3 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Many studies have demonstrated that TGF-β1 can promote fibrosis via the STAT3/p-STAT3 pathway (Chakraborty et al., 2017; Dees et al., 2020); however, few of these studies have explored the effects of abnormal STAT3/p-STAT3 expression on IPF-HLFs.