This aligns with studies showing fibroblast-enriched lncRNAs (e.g., H19 and MALAT1) regulate fibrosis (Yang et al. 2018; Chen et al. 2024; Ilieva et al. 2022), but LncRNA-IH is distinct in its hypoxia-dependent induction—linking environmental stress (e.g., sleep apnea-related hypoxia) to fibroblast activation (Lelli et al. 2015). Here, MALAT1 is linked to sleep apnea syndrome.