Particularly in the field of IPF, various biomarkers related to the mechanistic pathway such as alveolar dysfunction (MUC5B, telomerase), immune dysregulation (monocyte, heat shock protein 70, S100A12), extracellular matrix remodelling (collagen degradation biomarkers) have been proposed, however there is a need for high-quality, implementation research to bring these biomarkers into daily clinical practice26. The gene discussed is MUC5B; the disease is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.