[Familial cutaneous amyloidosis].

Familial diseases with skin lesions of amyloidosis are numerous and diverse, including widely different entities. The most homogeneous group is the one where cutaneous amyloidosis is clinically isolated and of the lichenoid type. It is probable that in most of these forms the amyloid protein is a keratin. A genetic approach of the candidate gene type would confirm or infirm this hypothesis. In the second group of diseases the lesions of amyloidosis are associated with other genodermatoses and with two other familial diseases: Partington's disease and hereditary multiple endocrine neoplasia with cutaneous and visceral lesions. The position of amyloidosis in these different diseases varies and the mechanisms of its occurrence are unknown. The third group is that of skin amyloidosis as part of hereditary systemic amyloidosis. Future advances in this matter will rest on the characterization of the amyloid protein involved and on the discovery of genetic abnormalities responsible for these diseases.