High mobility group box 1 protein, a cue for stem cell recruitment.
High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a non-histone protein required to maintain chromatin architecture. Recent observations demonstrated that HMGB1 can also act as a cytokine to regulate different biological processes such as inflammation, cell migration and metastasis. We showed previously that HMGB1 can be released passively by cells that die in a traumatic and unprogrammed way, and can serve a signal of tissue damage. More recently, we showed that HMGB1 can recruit stem cells: HMGB1 induces stem cell transmigration through an endothelial barrier; moreover, when beads containing HMGB1 are implanted into healthy muscle, they recruit stem cells injected into the general circulation. The inflammatory and tissue-regenerating roles of HMGB1 may be strictly interconnected, and are discussed here.
Palumbo
Roberta
R
Department of Molecular Biology and Functional Genomics, San Raffaele Research Institute, San Raffaele University, via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy.
Bianchi
Marco E
ME
D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D016207:Cytokines / Q000502:physiology; D005544:Forecasting; D024243:HMGB1 Protein / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
D016207:Cytokines; D024243:HMGB1 Protein; D018836:Inflammation Mediators