TP63 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: In the recent decade, it has been discovered that these P63+ progenitor cells in airway can be activated by multiple types of major alveolar injuries (eg. IPF, influenza infection, COVID-19), and then migrate from airway to the damaged loci in the alveolar compartment, where they play complex roles in the pathogenesis process (Zuo et al., 2015; Vaughan et al., 2015; Heydemann et al., 2023; Prasse et al., 2019).