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Figure 1. Timeline of key discoveries in aging and chronic lung diseases, with associated mechanisms. Major findings include the identification of telomere shortening and SASP in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (2008); the role of tobacco smoke-induced DNA damage response (DDR) in lung aging (2019); the proposal of convergent pathways in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and aging (2015); the central role of mTOR in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (2021); and emerging directions in epigenetic- and miRNA-based therapeutics (2025). SASP: Senescence-associated secretory phenotype.