It has been observed that human and mouse pulmonary fibrosis are often with elevated levels of sialidases, which lead to the accumulation of more pro-fibrotic cytokine transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFβ-1) extracellularly in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, human lung epithelial cells and fibroblasts. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is pulmonary fibrosis.