CASP8 and infection: Indeed, infection with VZV, which does not express any known inhibitors of caspase-8, triggers apoptosis downstream of ZBP1 in human cells (Steain et al., 2020), and a wild-type HSV-1 strain induces both ZBP1-mediated apoptosis and necroptosis in mouse astrocytes (Jeffries et al., 2022).