Soon afterwards, Chen et al. [121] found that the expression of HMGB1 and NF-κB and TNF-α/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were significantly upregulated in type 2 diabetic retinas and in high glucose treated ARPE-19 cells, compared to their respective counterparts. Here, NFKB1 is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.