Our prior research showed the HMGB1 inhibitor GA can alleviate the damage and inflammation in the kidney of diabetic rats by activating RAGE/TLR4-associated ERK and p38 MAPK/NF-κB (11), suggesting that the HMGB1/RAGE axis is crucial in DN pathology (9, 10). Here, HMGB1 is linked to liver dysplastic nodule.