Oculocutaneous albinism and analysis of tyrosinase gene in Japanese patients.

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is a heterogeneous groups of autosomal-recessive genetic disorders. The molecular pathogenesis of several types of OCA have been clarified in the ten years since our first report in 1989 on a pathologic mutation of the tyrosinase gene. In this article, a new classification of OCA based on genetic evidence is briefly reviewed, and our study on Japanese patients with tyrosinase-negative OCA is summarized.