TGFB1 and pulmonary fibrosis: The TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway plays a critical role in promoting EMT and is a central pro-fibrotic axis responsible for the aberrant expression and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in pulmonary fibrosis (Ding et al., 2023; Li G. et al., 2023; Du et al., 2024).