Necroptosis and Cancer

Necroptosis is a programmed lytic cell death pathway, deregulation of which is linked to various inflammatory disorders. Escape from programmed cell death and inflammation play a significant role in cancer, and therefore investigating the role of necroptosis in cancer has been of great interest. Necroptosis has been shown to promote cancer metastasis and T cell death. Escape from necroptosis via loss of RIPK3 expression is a feature of some cancers. Although necroptosis is a promising novel target for cancer therapies, further investigation into its biological role in carcinogenesis is warranted. In this article we review the recently identified interplay between necroptosis and cancer, and we outline the major biological questions that require further inquiry on the road to targeting this pathway in cancer.