HDAC3 was observed to be overexpressed in IPF lungs and to be preferentially upregulated in the fibrotic phase in bleomycin-injured lungs at day 14 and day 21 post-bleomycin and was found to repress Nrf2 expression in concert with the profibrotic Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) transcription factor. This evidence concerns the gene HDAC3 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.