HMGB1 and metabolic disease: HMGB-1 has gained notoriety as a potential clinical biomarker to predict disease activity and severity, as elevated serum or plasma levels have been associated with multiple pathologies, including autoimmune diseases (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus [34] and type I diabetes [35]), metabolic disorders (e.g., type II diabetes [36]) and CVDs (e.g., coronary [19,37] and peripheral artery [38] disease).