RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products), also called AGER, is a 35 kilodalton transmembrane receptor of the immunoglobulin super family. Its name comes from its ability to bind advanced glycation end products (AGE), which include chiefly glycoproteins, the glycans of which have been modified non-enzymatically through the Maillard reaction. In view of its inflammatory function in innate immunity and its ability to detect a class of ligands through a common structural motif, RAGE is often referred to as a pattern recognition receptor. RAGE also has at least one other agonistic ligand: high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1). The interaction between RAGE and its ligands is thought to result in pro-inflammatory gene activation. Due to an enhanced level of RAGE ligands in diabetes or other chronic disorders, this receptor is hypothesized to have a causative effect in a range of inflammatory diseases such as diabetic complications, Alzheimer's disease and even some tumors.