Alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) suppress fibroblast (FB) expression of type 1 collagen (COL1A1), fibronectin (FN1), α-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7), and fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) in floating submerged gels. The epithelial cells and the fibroblasts were cultured alone or together for 8 days. At the end of the experiment the gels were dissolved with dispase and collagenase and the epithelial cells were isolated with epithelial cellular adhesion molecule (EpCAM; CD326) magnetic beads. The fibroblasts were in the flow-through (FT) fraction. The mRNA was processed and quantitated by real-time qPCR as described above. Data were normalized to the level of gene expression in the fibroblast-alone cultures (100%). There were seven individual experiments with different epithelial cells for the comparisons. *Significant difference in the comparison of fibroblasts with or without alveolar epithelial cells, P = 0.02. The panels are as follows: A: COL1A1; B: ACTA2; C: FN1; D: HGF; E: FGF7; and F: FGF10. AEC, alveolar epithelial cell; EpCAM, epithelial cellular adhesion molecule; FN1, fibronectin.