Contrary to early findings suggesting that Mincle plays a protective role against pneumococcal pneumonia by recognizing the Streptococcus pneumoniae glycolipid glucosyl-diacylglycerol (Behler-Janbeck et al, 2016), more recent studies have shown that overexpression of Mincle can exacerbate pneumococcal infection. Here, CLEC4E is linked to pneumococcal pneumonia.