[Hereditary blistering diseases. Symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of epidermolysis bullosa].

Hereditary epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a term for a heterogeneous group of rare genetic disorders characterized by marked fragility of the skin and mucous membranes following minor trauma. Significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular basis of EB, which has far-reaching implications for an improved classification with consequences for prognosis, genetic counseling, DNA-based prenatal and preimplantation testing, and the development of future treatments including gene therapy. Besides mucocutaneous changes, EB leads to a number of systemic manifestations whose management requires multidisciplinary access. Extracutaneous complications include ophthalmologic, dental, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, urogenital, hematologic, and nutritional problems. This article reviews the progress that has been made in the understanding of the molecular basis of EB, clinical aspects of major EB subtypes, and the management of patients suffering from EB, and it gives an outlook on molecular therapy projects such as gene, cell, vector, and protein therapies.