TERT and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: In IPF, SASP can be induced by the shortening of telomeres, for example, in the case of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) or telomerase ribonucleic acid component (TERC) gene mutations, but also by environmental factors, which lead to oxidative stress, oncogene activation, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage, and chromatin abnormality.