β-Defensin-3 and -4 in intestinal epithelial cells display increased mRNA expression in ulcerative colitis

mRNA expression of two recently described human beta-defensins (hBD-3 and hBD-4) in epithelial cells of normal small and large intestine and the impact of chronic intestinal inflammation on their expression levels was investigated. Intestinal specimens from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD) and controls with no history of inflammatory bowel disease were studied. hBD-3 and hBD-4 mRNAs were determined in freshly isolated...