Investigating key profibrotic regulators contributing to epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive and lethal interstitial lung disease with high morbidity and mortality. It is characterized by excessive extracellular matrix accumulation and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. To identify pivotal profibrotic regulators contributing to epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and pulmonary fibrosis, BEAS-2B cells were treated with TGF-beta1, followed by Genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (GeCKO) screening, pathway and functional enrichment analysis, loss-of-function experiment, as well as other experimental techniques.