Murine cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) encode caspase-8 inhibitors that prevent apoptosis together with competitors of RIP homotypic interaction motif (RHIM)-dependent signal transduction to interrupt the necroptosis.
In this study, we have developed a cell-specific cytotoxic model of PDA cells using the expression of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (TK) under the control of the rat insulin promoter (RIP-TK).