Background: High mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) is a sort of non-histone protein in chromatin, which plays an important role in tumor proliferation, invasion, and immune escape. HMGB1-RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products) interactions have been reported to be important in a number of cancers. 
Methods: CCK8, flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were used to detected cell viability, apoptosis and gene expression, respectively.
Results: In the present study, we demonstrated that HMGB1/RAGE axis regulated the cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion of the renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Further, we discovered that HMGB1/RAGE axis increased the expression of autophagic proteins LC3 and Beclin-1 in RCC. Finally, we used a coculture model of human umbilical vein endothelial cells with RCC cell lines to find out that HMGB1 also increased the expression of VEGF and VEGFR2 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. An in vivo study further confirmed that HMGB1 knockdown inhibited RCC tumor growth.
Conclusion: Our results illustrated that HMGB1/RAGE axis mediated RCC cell viability, apoptosis, invasion, autophagy, and angio­genesis, which provides a novel theoretical basis for using HMGB1 as the target in RCC.
Keywords: HMGB1, RCC, apoptosis, invasion, autophagy, angiogenesis