Influence of α-defensins on BREC proliferation. BRECs were incubated in the absence (open bar) or presence (filled bars) of 10 ng/mL VEGF alone (–) or in the presence of increasing concentrations of synthetic α-defensin (HNP-1) or β-defensin (10 μM), as indicated. Proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) is expressed as a percentage of control, defined as cell proliferation in the absence of any stimulus or competitor. Data are mean ± SD (n = 3) of 1 experiment typical of 3 separate experiments so performed.