The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway has been proposed as a key survival pathway regulating the alternative 5′ splice site selection of the Bcl-x pre-mRNA, increasing Bcl-xL expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells (Shultz et al., 2012). The gene discussed is BCL2L1; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.