The activation of NLRP3 inflammasome in SCD transgenic mice evident by elevated IL-1β level in the serum 24 h post running mice on rotarod suggests that the sickling of RBCs caused by exercise in mice may have elevated the extracellular heme and HMGB1, which in turn activated the NLRP3 inflammasome (Chen et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2014). Here, HMGB1 is linked to Schnyder corneal dystrophy.