The relevance of cancer to human health is extremely high, and the efforts to understand and control the processes related to the oncogenic modifications in cells have increased dramatically in the past few decades. The remarkable contribution of Zur Hausen in describing the virus oncogenic action led to new approaches in cancer studies. Several neoplastic diseases have been reported discussing virus causal action. Furthermore, environmental agents were also verified as cofactors acting in the cell transformation infected by viruses. Considering these aspects, the papillomaviruses play a major role in human and animal carcinogenesis. These viruses have been described in many groups of vertebrates, with great importance in mammals. In bovines, they act in the development of benign cutaneous lesions and malign lesions in bladder and digestive system, associated to cofactors as the bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum. In equines, they induce sarcoid. Obviously, these diseases lead to serious economic hazards. But, none of these events are as dramatic as the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) and human cervical cancer. Second major cause of death in women, the cervical cancer is related to a group of HPVs, the high risk group. Many studies are being developed reaching either for the cure as such as for prophylactic aim. The cooperation of viruses and environmental cofactors is an excellent model to the understanding of oncogenic processes.

We invite investigators working in the field of oncogenic processes to contribute original research articles as well as review articles. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The biological roles of the genes involved in cell cycle regulation
• Cancer development
• Technologies available for diagnosis and novel prophylactic and therapeutic strategies

The large number of related issues to oncogenic process demands that many other aspects shall be considered in the invited contributions, such as cancer stem cells, cell mutations, apoptosis, oxidative stress, epigenetic modifications, inflammation, and bioinformatics. Review articles should provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge, as well as outline the challenges and the open issues in the field.

This special issue will be dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Professor Dr. Willy Beçak, former Director of Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil, and remarkable Senior Researcher in Genetics.

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/biomed/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/biomed/oncology/op/ according to the following timetable: