The relevance of cell death as a central biological process has been well established in the last century. It unquestionably contributes to homeostasis and is directly associated with the evolution of unicellular and multicellular organisms. Over the last few decades, our knowledge in this field has increased significantly due to the discovery of a myriad of cellular and molecular circuits that govern cell death processes.

Cell death triggered by genetic circuits is known as Regulated Cell Death (RCD) and includes many distinct RCD subtypes. Currently, more than 10 different forms of cell death have been reported in the literature and, according to their features, these types of cellular demise can be divided into two main groups as follow: pathological, not programmed cellular death (also known as necrosis), and physiological or programmed cell death (also defined as apoptosis). Additionally, several new types of cell death have been reported, including necroptosis, autophagy, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and parthanatos, among others. These different types of RCD have been largely associated with malignant transformation by acting as a “driving force” in neoplastic transformation and represent promising targets for new therapeutic strategies. However, despite the original morphological classification of cellular death employed in the past, recent advances at the molecular level have strongly impacted the identification of new cell death mechanisms and, consequently, have broadened our view of the genesis and progression of several tumor types.

In this sense, due to the crucial role played by cell death processes in cancer, this Special Issue aims to highlight the recent discoveries of the contribution of different forms of cellular death for diagnosis, development, and treatment at the different stages of the carcinogenesis process. Original research and review articles are welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Mechanisms of cell death in neoplastic transformation
• Mechanisms of cell death in tumor progression
• Mechanisms of cell death and chemotherapeutic resistance in cancer treatment
• Mechanisms of cell death and radiotherapeutic resistance in cancer treatment
• Mechanisms of cell death and the response of molecular-targeted drugs in cancer treatment
• Mechanisms of cell death and the response of immunotherapeutic drugs in cancer treatment
• Cell death biomarkers and cancer diagnosis
• Cell death biomarkers and cancer prognosis
• Cell death and the tumor microenvironment
• Cell death biomarkers and the clinical management of cancer