Slack Potassium Channel Inhibitors for the Treatment of Childhood Epilepsies

Epilepsies affects over 2 million people in the United States with approximately 30% of those affected individuals having poorly managed, debilitating symptoms. The KCNT1 gene encodes a potassium ion channel, Slack, that to date, has ~30 variants associated with a variety of epilepsies including MMPSI which is severe, drug-resistant, and fatal disease of infancy. Drugs that can inhibit the activity of mutant Slack channels may provide effective treatments for MMPSI and other epilepsies.