IL18 and infection: Since cytokines are closely related to infection and clearance of pathogens, we also evaluated the secretion of cytokines, the results showed that rBD2 elevated the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-4, IL-10 and IL-13 (Figure 4), and decreased the levels of proinflammatory cytokines, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-18, and TNF-α (Figure 5).