Ayoub CG, et al. - The authors examined the expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, human beta defensin (hBD)-2 and hBD-3 in the dental pulp of smokers and compared them with nonsmokers. Furthermore, they aimed to test the hypothesis that cytokine and defensin expression would be reduced in smokers as compared with nonsmokers. In this present study, they described that smokers were immunologically deficient in TNF-α and hBD-2. Hence, implying that dental pulps of smokers possessed limited defense mechanisms, affecting their endodontic prognosis and indicating a cause for their reported inferior outcome.