Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Arab countries with a young age of around 50 years at presentation. Locally advanced disease is very common and total mastectomy is the most commonly performed surgery. Awareness campaigns and value of clinical breast examination were validated in the Cairo Breast Cancer Screening Trial. More radiation centers and early detection would optimize care and reduce the currently high rate of total mastectomies. Population-based screening in those countries with affluent resources and accessible care should be implemented.

Background: Young age remains a controversial issue as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. Debate includes patients from different parts of the world. Almost 50% of patients with breast cancer seen at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) are below age 50.

Background: The analysis of cancer incidence trends is essential to health care planning. The aim of this study is to examine variations in cancer incidence rates in Lebanon between 2003 and 2008 and use the observed trends to project cancer incidence until 2018. Methods: Using secondary data with a cumulative caseload of 45,753 patients from the National Cancer Registry database of the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon, we estimated sex-and site-specific incidence of cancer for each year of the six-year period between 2003 and 2008. Logarithmic regressions were fitted to estimate the cancer incidence for the forecast years until 2018.

Research has been driven towards finding therapy predictive biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC) with a special interest in studying the gut microbiome. Gut microbiome acts not only as a barrier to prevent bacterial invasion and infection, but it also affects the efficacy of hematopoietic-cell transplantation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Recently, immunotherapy, which potentiates the host immune system, has revolutionized cancer therapy in general and CRC treatment specifically by increasing the quality of life and the survival of a subset of patients with this disease. In immunotherapy, the gut microbiome plays an important role in cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) blockade, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-L1) mediation, and T cell stimulation. As such, this review will cover the role of gut microbiome in CRC, summarize approved immunotherapy treatments for CRC, and focus on the potential use of gut microbiome as a biomarker for immunotherapy.