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Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an inherited disorder of heme biosynthesis that results from an accumulation of protoporphyrin IX in erythroid cells, plasma, skin and liver. EPP leads to acute photosensitivity and, in about 2% of patients, liver disease. EPP is a complex syndrome in which two genes are independently involved: FECH and ALAS2. More than 96% of unrelated EPP patients have ferrochelatase (FECH) deficiency (MIM 177000). Four percent of them present with autosomal recessive inheritance with two mutated FECH alleles. In dominant cases (95%) the inheritance of a common hypomorphic IVS3-48C FECH allele trans to a deleterious FECH mutation reduces FECH activity below a critical threshold. The frequency of the IVS3-48C allele differs widely from the Japanese (45%), to Black West Africans (<1%) populations. These differences in the frequency of this single common SNP account for the prevalence of overt EPP in different countries and for the absence of EPP in Black Africans. The phylogenic origin of the IVS3-48C haplotypes strongly suggests that the IVS3-48C allele arose from a single recent mutational event that occurred 60 Kyears ago. Acquired somatic mutation of FECH secondary to myeloid disease may also exceptionally cause EPP (<1%). Finally, about 4% of unrelated EPP patients have X-linked dominant protoporphyria (XLDPP) (MIM 300752) caused by gain-of-function mutations in the ALAS2 gene leading to an increased erythroid heme biosynthesis and subsequently an accumulation of protoporphyrin without any FECH deficiency., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)