CXCL14 and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Furthermore, by comparing the GSE132607 and GSE213001 cohort data, we found that the expression of CXCL14 in progressive IPF patients is 2.3 times higher than that in stable patients (p = 0.008), which overlaps partially with the “disease progression-related gene cluster” characteristics reported (35), but our study further discovers a synergistic regulatory relationship between CXCL14 and TGF-β1 through SHAP interaction analysis (interaction SHAP value = 0.21), suggesting it may amplify pro-fibrotic signaling pathways.