In addition, MSCs pretreated with oncostatin M, a cytokine with both pro- and anti-inflammatory actions, were shown to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of pulmonary fibrosis by the mechanisms involving the upregulation of the secreted anti-fibrotic factor, HGF, and the attenuation of TGF-β1-induced ECM production in lung fibroblasts (Lan et al., 2017). Here, HGF is linked to pulmonary fibrosis.