HMGB1 and the interplay with its ligands are illustrated in the process of several ocular diseases such as Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis (Jiang et al., 2019), acute glaucoma (Chi et al., 2015), chronic autoimmune uveitis (Yun et al., 2017), and diabetic retinopathy (Liu et al., 2019). Here, HMGB1 is linked to diabetic retinopathy.