3) was used as an internal control with the predicted size of 473 bp. In each reaction, the initial denaturing step was 94°C for 8 min, followed by 32–38 cycles [denaturation at 94°C for 40 seconds, annealing at 56–61°C (according to primer melting temperature) for 40 s and elongation at SN-38 clinical trial 72°C for 1 minute]. The final

elongation step was 72°C for 7 min. The primer annealing temperatures, cycles and predicted PCR product sizes for the transcripts investigated are summarised in Table 1. The PCR-amplified cDNA products were separated by electrophoresis on a 2% agarose gel and visualised by ethidium bromide after staining. The forward primers (f) and reverse primers (r) used are presented in Table 1. Identification

of each defensin was confirmed by direct sequencing of respective PCR products, using upstream PCR primers (DNA Sequencing Facility, Qiagen, France). Quantitative Real Time PCR The level of mRNA for HBD2, HBD9 and GAPDH in human cells was quantified using real time PCR analysis. Three different experiments were performed. Isolation of total RNA with TRIzol Reagent and synthesis of cDNA was performed as described above. To perform real time PCR, gene-specific primers were designed according to the sequences available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information Akt activity http://​www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​, using Beacon Designer Etomidate 2 software (Table 2). Table 2 Primer sequences and annealing temperatures (Real

Time PCR) Primers Sequences Conditions hBD2f hBD2r 5′-tatctcctcttctcgttcctcttc-3′ 5′-ccacaggtgccaatttgtttatac-3′ 40 cycles, 55°C, 2.5% DMSO hBD9f hBD9r 5′-ggcctaaatccaggtgtgaa-3′ 5′-tcaaatgttggcaagtggag-3′ 40 cycles, 55°C GAPDHf GAPDHr 5′-acccactcctccacctttgac-3′ 5′-tccaccaccctgttgctgtag-3′ 40 cycles, 55°C In order to amplify specific cDNA sequences and to avoid genomic DNA amplification, all primer sequences were designed to cover at least two subsequent exons (Table 2). Relative quantification relates the PCR signal of the target transcript in a treatment group to that of an untreated control. For each primer-pair, the amplification Nec-1s in vitro efficiency was determined by serial dilution experiments and the resulting efficiency coefficient was used for quantification of the products [54]. Each 25 μl Quantitative PCR mixture included 5 microl of DNA, 0.08 μl of primers (300 nM), 12.5 μl of CYBR green IQ supermix (2×) (ABgene) and H2O. Quantitative PCR amplification was carried out on an iCycler iQ system (Bio-Rad, Marne la Coquette, France) with the following parameters: 15 min at 95°C and 40 cycles of two steps consisting of 30s at 95°C, 30 s at 55°C. The relative quantification of the mRNA levels of the target genes was determined using the deltaCT – method [55].