TGFB1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Because of their complex temporal, spatial and phenotypic heterogeneity, acute inflammatory exacerbations (AIEs) of COPD, asthma, and pulmonary fibrosis are not well characterized or effectively countered with broad-spectrum immunomodulation (corticosteroids, cytokine modulation, anti-TGFβ1) as the current first line of treatment available (Richeldi et al., 2003; Papiris et al., 2012; Behr and Richeldi, 2013).