Influence of α-defensins on BREC adhesion, migration, and capillary sprout formation. (A) Adhesion of BRECs to immobilized FN or FBG (each at 5 μg/mL) is shown in the absence (–; filled bars) or presence of the blocking antibody against β1-integrin, 6S6 (for FN), or the blocking antibody against αvβ3-integrin, LM609 (for FBG) (hatched bars; antibody concentration, 20 μg/mL), or in the presence of increasing concentrations of synthetic HNP-1 (gray bars), or in the presence of β-defensin (dotted bars; 10 μM). Cell adhesion is expressed as percentage of adherent cells to total added cells. Adhesion was performed in triplicate, and data are shown as the mean ± SD of a typical experiment; similar results were obtained in at least 3 separate experiments. (B) VEGF-stimulated migration of BRECs toward FN or FBG (each 5 μg/mL) is shown in the absence (filled bars) or presence of the blocking antibody against β1-integrin, 6S6 (for FN), or the blocking antibody against αvβ3-integrin, LM609 (for FBG) (hatched bars; antibody concentration, 20 μg/mL), in the presence of α-defensins (open bars; 5 μM), in the presence of synthetic HNP-1 (gray bars; 5 μM), or in the presence of β-defensin (dotted bars; 10 μM). Cell migration is expressed as percentage of control, which is represented as cell migration in the absence of any stimulus or competitor. Data are mean ± SD (n = 3) of a typical experiment; similar results were obtained in 3 separate experiments. (C) BRECs were incubated for 48 hours in the absence (–; open bar) or presence of bFGF (5 ng/mL; gray bars) or of VEGF (5 ng/mL; filled bars) alone or in the presence of α-defensins (10 μM), as indicated. Capillary-like sprout formation is expressed as percentage of control, defined as sprouts per microcarrier in the absence of any stimulus or competitor. Data are mean ± SD (n = 3) of a typical experiment; similar results were obtained in 3 separate experiments.