HMGB1 and coronary stenosis: Recently, Inoue et al (13) showed that activated vascular smooth muscle cells are the source of HMGB1 in human advanced atherosclerotic lesions and that HMGB1 directly facilitates the production of CRP which is an independent predictor of the extent of coronary artery stenosis for patients with atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases (14,15).