TGFB1 and cancer: Lung cancer in individuals with pulmonary fibrosis tends to be more aggressive, with TGF-β playing a critical role by being produced by both pulmonary fibrosis-associated fibroblasts and cancer-derived epithelial cells, promoting myofibroblast recruitment at cancer margins, safeguarding them from apoptosis, and facilitating their invasion through basement membranes and the process of EMT [31].