SLC39A8 and pulmonary fibrosis: For example, loss of ZIP8 expression was associated with impaired renewal capacity of type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s) and enhanced lung fibrosis (Liang et al., 2022), and increased ZIP8 expression in lung epithelial cells was associated with a protective role against TNF-induced cytotoxicity (Besecker et al., 2008), and increased ZIP8 expression in the lung was associated with re-organization of filamentous actin (Geng et al., 2018).