diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/HeaderFilter.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/HeaderFilter.java
index d73a5d6a75..079bd2406f 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/HeaderFilter.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/transformer/HeaderFilter.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public class HeaderFilter implements Transformer {
 
 	private final String[] headersToRemove;
 	
-	private volatile boolean patternMatch;
+	private volatile boolean patternMatch = true;
 
 
 	public HeaderFilter(String... headersToRemove) {