The genes up-regulated with IPF patients’ CCL2 expression value was mainly enriched in immune related components, especially the chemokine family (Fig. 6a,c), such as positive regulation of chemokine production, CCR chemokine receptor binding, chemokine activity, chemokine receptor binding, CXCR chemokine receptor binding and cytokine receptor binding. Here, CCL2 is linked to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.