Patients with sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have higher mortality and poor prognosis than pneumonia-induced ARDS. Pulmonary fibrosis is an irreversible accumulation of connective tissue in the interstitium of the lung and closely associated with the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of type II alveolar epithelial cells (AECIIs). Therefore, it is undoubtedly worth studying whether the EMT of AE...