RIPK3 and neoplasm: Our findings also suggest that susceptibility/resistance of tumor cells to programmed necrosis is primarily determined by expression of the kinase RIPK3 (which indicates its potential usefulness as a predictive marker) and that ceramide represents a pivotal factor downstream of RIPK3 in the execution of programmed necrosis not only in the previously studied common laboratory cell lines, but also in the clinically more relevant tumor cell systems employed here.