The emerging roles of a novel CCCH-type zinc finger protein, ZC3H4, in silica-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

•ZC3H4 is a newly found CCCH-type zinc finger protein involved in silica-induced EMT.•circZC3H4 RNA serves as a miR-212 sponge to regulate the expression of ZC3H4.•Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is the downstream mechanism by which ZC3H4 regulated EMT.•ZC3H4 may act as a novel regulator in EMT, thus providing a reference for pulmonary fibrosis research.