Douglas R. Green St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA Correspondence: douglas.greenstjude.org DEATH MATTERS

Cell death has consequences beyond simply the loss of the cell itself. Dying cells trigger their removal by other cells, and this can be accompanied by an inflammatory response. The cells can also induce other cells to proliferate to compensate for the loss in cell number. And, in vertebrates, they can signal to the immune system to regulate adaptive immune responses to foreign or altered proteins associated with the dying cell. Dying cells are not simply debris to be discarded—they are resources to be recycled, and this process of waste management is tightly controlled.

In this review, we consider the ways in which dying cells are cleared from the body and the consequences for the organism after the cell is gone. As we will see, there are many possible outcomes, and these depend in part on the cell and how it dies.

DISPOSING OF THE CORPSE

In some cases, cells that die are simply …