Benefits and perils of necroptosis in influenza virus infection

Influenza A viruses (IAV) are lytic viruses that have recently been found to activate necroptosis in many of the cell types they infect. Necroptotic cell death is potently immunogenic and limits IAV spread by directly eliminating infected cells and by mobilizing both innate and adaptive immune responses. The benefits of necroptosis to the host, however, may sometimes be outweighed by the potentially deleterious hyperinflammatory consequences of activating this death modality in pulmonary and other tissues.