"To understand the design principles of the molecular interaction network associated with the irreversibility of cell apoptosis and the stability of cell surviving, we constructed a Boolean network integrating both the intrinsic and extrinsic pro-apoptotic pathways with pro-survival signal transduction pathways. We performed statistical analyses of the dependences of cell fate on initial states and on input signals. The analyses reproduced the well-known pro- and anti-apoptotic effects of key external signals and network components. We found that the external GF signal by itself did not change the apoptotic ratio from randomly chosen initial states when there is no external TNF signal, but can significantly offset apoptosis induced by the TNF signal. ..."