The gene expression levels of DEFA1, DEFA3, and DEFA4 increased significantly in adenocarcinoma, adenoidcystic carcinoma, and mucoepidermoid carcinoma compared with healthy salivary gland tissues (11).Tissue expression analysis showed that DEFA1–3 in gastric cancer increased 10 times compared with that in adjacent normal mucosa (P=0.001) (12). Here, DEFA1 is linked to mucoepidermoid carcinoma.