The effect of bacterial virulence factors on hβD1 expression in vitro. MKN7 (A and B) and AGS cells (C and D) were infected with H. pylori strains Tx30a, 60190WT, 60190ΔcagA, 60190ΔcagE, 60190ΔvacA, 26695WT, 26695Δslt, P12WT, P12ΔcagL and P12ΔcagPAI (moi = 100). hβD1 (A and C) and IL-8 (B) concentrations in culture supernatants were measured by ELISA after 24 h. The asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference in concentration when comparing effects of mutant strains to their parental strain 60190WT, 26695WT or P12WT (P < 0.01). Fold differences in hβD1 mRNA expression relative to uninfected cells were quantified by RT-qPCR (D). The asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference in expression level compared with 60190WT-infected cells (P < 0.05). Bars represent the mean of three independent experiments and error bars show standard deviations.