To the edge of cell death and back

Programmed cell death plays a central role in maintaining homeostasis. Various studies have demonstrated that programmed cell death is not a one-way street; cells can survive even when the core cell death processes are underway. Cell death initiation, prevention, and recovery function in a coordinated fashion to establish and maintain a homeostatic environment. In this review, we discuss how dying cells can be rescued from death's grip and the subsequent physiological consequences. We suggest a fundamental question to be answered—at least at the single cell level is, can we predict if a certain cell is more or less likely to survive or die? And importantly, what physiological and pathological consequences, as well as therapeutic approaches can we delineate from this ability to predict cell death versus survival.