Background:The pathogenesis of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) is unclear. This study aims to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in CTD-ILD to determine the potential role of these DEPs that may play in the pathogenesis of CTD-ILD and to offer potential therapeutic targets.Methods: Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were collected from four patients with CTD-ILD and four patients without CTD-ILD. Label-free mass spectrometrybased relative quantification was used to identify the DEPs. Bioinformatics were used to determine the potential biological processes and signaling pathways associated with these DEPs.
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