Quantification of different basal cell populations (Figure 5G) showed a significant increase of KRT5+/KRT17+ (P = 0.0043) and KRT5+/KRT17– (P = 0.0087) populations in IPF distal lung tissue sections compared with control lung tissue sections, whereas there was no statistically significant difference in KRT5–/KRT17+ population between the groups (P = 0.0628). This evidence concerns the gene KRT5 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.