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Over the last 3 years, single-cell, spatial, and multiomics tools, paired with lineage tracing and functional models, have revealed distinct fibroblast states, trajectories, and spatial niches with increasing resolution. Here, we summarize emerging principles from this sharpened point of view. First, lung fibroblasts are not a single \u201cmyofibroblast\u201d entity; rather, they include a spectrum of states, ranging from resident niche-supporting lipofibroblasts, to transitional and inflammatory intermediate states, to CTHRC1\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    pathological states. These transitions are not strictly linear, potentially reversible, and are context-dependent. Second, fibroblast state transitions are shaped by signals from injury-associated epithelial and immune cell populations within multicellular niches. Third, the ECM is not a passive scar; rather, it is an active signaling hub whose composition, cross linking, and stiffness engage mechanotransduction pathways that reinforce and, in chronic fibrosis, may lock in pathological fibroblast states. These insights motivate more precise therapeutic strategies\u2014targeting fibroblast state-specific vulnerabilities, disrupting the fibrotic niche, and correcting dysregulated mechanosensing\u2014and raise open questions about fibroblast state reversibility and niche plasticity that will shape next-generation approaches.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1152\/ajplung.00426.2025","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T14:52:31Z","timestamp":1785595951000},"page":"L327-L337","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1152\/aps-crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Conversations in collagen: multicellular cross talk shapes the fibrotic niche in pulmonary fibrosis"],"prefix":"10.1152","volume":"331","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7934-1868","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebecca J.","family":"Salamon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of California","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shally","family":"Saini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of California","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"24","reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-15647-5"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41588-025-02080-x"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1183\/13993003.01326-2023"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41588-024-01819-2"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-025-61880-1"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.adl5473"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-024-07660-1"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.stem.2017.03.011"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-025-63735-1"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1172\/jci.insight.182700"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajpath.2024.12.015"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isci.2025.113993"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41580-024-00716-0"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/ajpcell.00285.2025"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-17358-3"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1172\/JCI165612"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1084\/jem.20162152"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1164\/rccm.201712-2410OC"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41590-018-0276-y"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-physiol-031725-021041"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/ajplung.00300.2014"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/jcmm.70402"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1172\/jci.insight.172977"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.200081"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1183\/13993003.00482-2023"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7150\/thno.93519"},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2922-4"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/acel.14503"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.celrep.2018.03.010"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3892\/etm.2020.8433"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.celrep.2025.115248"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1165\/rcmb.2020-0542MA"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pccm.2023.10.007"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-025-61795-x"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41556-020-0542-8"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.stem.2020.06.020"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aba1983"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aba1972"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1152\/ajpcell.00302.2023"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciimmunol.add8945"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1183\/13993003.02441-2018"},{"key":"B42","unstructured":"Yu J, Thomas J, Haub J, Pizarro C, Zhang M, Biener L, Becker M, Zhang L, Kapellos TS, Schulte W, Schultze JL, Hasenauer J, Skowasch D, Schlitzer A. 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