To confirm the physiological relevance of this observation, we compared HMGB1 levels in the blood plasma of healthy donors, primary breast cancer patients (a solid tumour where HMGB1 release was assessed in breast cancer-derived MCF-7 cell lines) and AML patients (a “liquid” tumour which was also tested using the THP-1 cell line). Here, HMGB1 is linked to breast cancer.