Hence a given concentration of HMGB1, a cytokine increased in serum in sepsis [53] and falciparum malaria [57] in proportion to degree of illness, can be predicted to exert more pro-inflammatory influence in brain and placental vessels, where more of it is functionally available because less of it sequesters on thrombomodulin. This evidence concerns the gene THBD and Plasmodium falciparum malaria.