Notably, a number of pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic genes were identified as driver genes, along with a recently discovered AT2 surface marker, CD74, which is helpful for discriminating AT2s from AT1s [33] (Additional file 2: Fig. S4G and Additional file 9: Dataset 7), implying that differentiation suppression of COPD-associated AT2 might be partly accounted for by inflammation and apoptosis. The gene discussed is CD74; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.