High mobility group box-1 recognition: the beginning of a RAGEless era?
High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a molecular alarm signal that triggers an immune response when released. It was assumed that the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) would mediate the signal to the immune system. Recently pattern recognition receptors that are triggered by molecules of bacterial origin (the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family) were shown to also respond to HMGB1. Now two papers establish the TLR4-HMGB1 axis as proinflammatory, eventually leading to disparate conditions like seizures or skin cancer. These reports add a new twist to our understanding of the mode of action of the alarm signal HMGB1.
Branco-Madeira
Filipe
F
Department of Respiratory Diseases, Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunity, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent 9000, Belgium. filipe.brancomadeira@ugent.be
Lambrecht
Bart N
BN
D000818:Animals; D024243:HMGB1 Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007249:Inflammation; D008954:Models, Biological; D012640:Seizures / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000819:agonists*
D024243:HMGB1 Protein; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4