Recent advances in albinism

Although it has been described for a long time, albinism remains poorly understood in many aspects. The clinical presentation is very different between subtypes of the disease and even within a single subtype. The monogenic nature of the disease is increasingly questioned. What are the functions of the proteins encoded by the genes involved in the disease and what are the pathophysiological consequences of their alteration? What is the link between defective melanogenesis and dysfunction of the neural retina? This review relates to the most recent advances in the field of albinism. As it is not possible to cover all aspects of the disease in an exhaustive way, we focus here on a selection of aspects that seem most relevant to understanding the disease and for patients' caretaking. These are: epidemiology, genetics, clinical characterization, cell biology and pathophysiology, psycho-sociology, therapeutic education, and therapeutic approaches.