The immune pathogenesis of tuberculosis,preparation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine,diagnosis of latent infection and active tuberculosis as well as the assessment of tuberculosis severity are still major challenges in the field of tuberculosis.In recent years,many studies have explored immune pathogenesis and new diagnostic and treatment targets of tuberculosis, and the high mobility group box-1 protein(HMGB1) receives wide attention for its unique pathophysiological mechanism.This article reviews the research progress on the correlation between HMGB1 and tuberculosis, which would be of help in diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.