Table 1.

Main properties of the hBD 1–3

	Localization in gingiva	Biological activity	Induction by periodontal bacteria	Suppression by periodontal bacteria	Antibacterial activity against periodontal bacteria	Degradation by bacterial/host proteases	Saline sensitivity
hBD-1	mRNA in spinous layers, peptide in granular layers (1, 53, 57)	N/A	P. intermedia (37) P. gingivalis (33)	N/A	P. intermedia (17) P. gingivalis (17) T. forsythia (20) F. nucleatum (17) A. actinomycetem-comitans (17)	P. gingivalis (62)	High (16, 17)
hBD-2	mRNA in spinous layers, peptide in upperspinous and granular layers (1, 53, 57, 59)	Increase in proinflammatory cytokine expression, keratinocyte proliferation and migration (47, 51, 52)	P. intermedia (29, 37) F. nucleatum (29–33, 37, 56) P. gingivalis (37, 38) A. actinomycetem-comitans (4)	T. denticola (26, 37)	P. intermedia (17) P. gingivalis (17) T. forsythia (20) F. nucleatum (17) A. actinomycetem-comitans (17)	P. gingivalis (62) Cathepsins (64)	Moderate (16, 17)
hBD-3	mRNA and peptide in upperspinous and granular layers (53, 59)	Increase in proinflammatory cytokine expression, keratinocyte proliferation and migration (45, 51, 52) Immunosuppressive activity (50) Promotes periodontal regeneration (69) Chemotactic effect (46, 47)	P. intermedia (37) F. nucleatum (29, 30, 33, 37, 56) P. gingivalis (29, 33)	P. gingivalis (37) T. forsythia (27, 37) T. denticola (27, 37)	P. intermedia (17, 20) T. forsythia (20) P. gingivalis (17, 37) F. nucleatum (17) A. actinomycetem-comitans (17)	P. gingivalis (25) Cathepsins (64)	Low (16, 17)

N/A, not applicable.