DEFA5 and Barrett esophagus: Shen et al. (2005) reported human defensin 5 immunostaining as a tool for identification of IM in BE as well as in gastric IM. Under normal conditions, human defensin 5 is present in intestinal Paneth cells, and is generally confined to the small intestinal epithelium. However, the expression of defensin 5 was also observed in IM. The frequency of human defensin 5 staining was higher in gastric IM compared to BE. This difference was attributed to higher H. pyloric infection in stomach compared to esophagus (Shen et al., 2005).