This active necrosis may be executed through a mechanism termed necroptosis or programmed necrosis [16]. Interestingly, necroptosis may be activated upon stimulation by TNFα, FasL, and TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosisinducing ligand), the same ligands that can activate apoptosis. The major necrotic cell death pathway is mediated through the serine/threonine kinases receptor interacting protein 1 (RIP1) and 3 (RIP3). RIP1 is a crucial initiator of death receptor-mediated necrosis [17] and RIP3 is a crucial upstream activating kinase that regulates RIP1-dependent necroptosis [18-20]. Thus, for example, TNF treatment induces the formation of a RIP1-RIP3 pro-necrotic complex and the kinase activity of both RIP1 and RIP3 is crucial for stable complex formation and subsequent induction of necrosis [18, 20]. Necrostatin-1 was identified as a small molecule inhibitor of necroptosis [15], and more recently, the RIP1 kinase activity was found to be the target of Necrostatin-1 [21]. Therefore, cell death induced by the activation of death receptor may be executed through alternative cell death pathways, apoptosis or necroptosis [22]. Necroptosis is an important cellular death mechanism likely to be involved in many human pathologies from viral infections to neurodegenerative diseases.