High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is an ubiquitous nuclear protein that is actively secreted by innate immune cells and/or released passively by necrotic or damaged cells in response to infection or injury (Andersson U et al. 2000; Scaffidi P et al. 2002; Bonaldi T et al. 2003; Chen G et al. 2004; Beyer C et al. 2012; Yang H et al. 2013). Outside the cell, HMGB1 can serve as an alarmin to activate innate immune responses including chemotaxis and cytokine release in both normal and aberrant immunity (Andersson U et al. 2000; Zetterström CK et al. 2002; Voll RE et al. 2008; Harris HE et al. 2012; Diener KR et al. 2013; Yang H et al. 2013).
HMGB1 can form immunostimulatory complexes with cytokines and other endogenous and exogenous ligands such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to potentiate proinflammatory response (Youn JH et al. 2008, 2011; Wähämaa H et al. 2011; Hreggvidsdottir HS et al. 2009). The activity of HMGB1 depended on the redox state of three cysteines at positions 23, 45 and 106 (C23, C45 and C106) (Urbonaviciute V et al. 2009; Venereau E et al. 2012, 2013; Yang H et al., 2013, 2021). Analysis revealed that the inflammatory activities of HMGB1 required both the formation of an intramolecular disulfide bond between C23 and C45 and the reduced state of C106 (thiol state, C106-SH) (Venereau E et al. 2012; Yang H et al. 2021).
HMGB1 binding to LPS facilitated transfer of LPS to CD14 and enhanced TNFalpha production in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (Youn JH et al. 2008). HMGB1 in complex with LPS boosted proinflammatory cytokine- and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP3) production in synovial fibroblasts obtained from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients (Wähämaa H et al. 2011; He ZW et al. 2013).
In addition to its ability to act in a synergy with LPS and other ligands, HMGB1 was shown to stimulate cells by direct interaction with innate immune receptors such as TLR4:LY96 (Yang H et al. 2010; Yang H et al. 2015).
