RIPK3: The Deadpool of neuronal cell death proteins?
Clayton W Winkler1, Karin E Peterson1
1Laboratory of Neurological Infections and Immunity, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 903 S. 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
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Receptor interaction kinase 3 (RIPK3) is a key mediator of necroptosis, initiating programmed cell death with mercenary efficiency in multiple neurodegenerative diseases. However, in this issue of Immunity, Estevez et al. demonstrate that RIPK3, like the character Deadpool, exists in duality and can also be a force for good by preventing excitotoxic neuronal death during orthoflavivirus encephalitis.
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