Protein / target

Potassium channel subfamily K member 10

KCNK10P57789Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
5
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Outward rectifier potassium channel activity

Primary system

Nervous system

Strongest disease association

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Genetic evidence · score 0.51

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

5 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

5 approved

30 linked trials

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function

K(+) channel that conducts voltage-dependent outward rectifying currents upon membrane depolarization. Voltage sensing is coupled to K(+) electrochemical gradient in an 'ion flux gating' mode where outward but not inward ion flow opens the gate. Converts to voltage-independent 'leak' conductance mode upon stimulation by various stimuli including mechanical membrane stretch, acidic pH, heat and lipids (PubMed:10880510, PubMed:25766236, PubMed:26919430, PubMed:38605031). Homo- and heterodimerizes to form functional channels with distinct regulatory and gating properties (PubMed:30573346). In trigeminal ganglia sensory neurons, the heterodimer of KCNK10/TREK-2 and KCNK18/TRESK inhibits neuronal firing and neurogenic inflammation by stabilizing the resting membrane potential at K(+) equilibrium potential as well as by regulating the threshold of action potentials and the spike frequency (By similarity). Permeable to other monovalent ions such as Rb(+) and Cs(+) (PubMed:26919430)

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (9)

Gene Ontology

  • Cmonoatomic ion channel complex
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Fmechanosensitive potassium channel activity
  • Foutward rectifier potassium channel activity
  • Fpotassium channel activity
  • Fpotassium ion leak channel activity
  • Pcellular response to arachidonate
  • Ppotassium ion transmembrane transport
  • Psignal transduction

538 aa · 60 kDa · 3 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Ion channel gatingGO
View supporting evidence

Ion channel gating

  • ·monoatomic ion channel complex
  • ·potassium ion transmembrane transport
View underlying pathways (2)

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

KCNK2KRT76KCNK9KCNK3KCNK18KCNK4KCNK13KCNK12PLD2KCNK5KCNK10

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

3

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

Isoflurane
ApprovedOpener

Potassium channel subfamily K member 10 opener

Appears in clinical studies involving kidney injury, Hydrocephalus, delirium, sedation

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

Halothane
ApprovedOpener

Potassium channel subfamily K member 10 opener

Appears in clinical studies involving septic shock, Sepsis

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

sevoflurane
ApprovedOpener

Potassium channel subfamily K member 10 opener

Appears in clinical studies involving endometrial cancer, myocardial infarction, sedation, delirium

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy0.51

Genetic · overall 0.31

alcohol drinking0.48

Genetic · overall 0.29

phobic disorder0.47

Genetic · overall 0.29

arthropathy0.46

Genetic · overall 0.28

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

sedation0.62

Clinical · overall 0.38

acute respiratory distress syndrome0.62

Clinical · overall 0.38

delirium0.61

Clinical · overall 0.37

mitral valve disorder0.53

Clinical · overall 0.32

aortic valve disorder0.53

Clinical · overall 0.32

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

myocardial infarction0.28

Clinical

Show all associations
sedation0.38
acute respiratory distress syndrome0.38
delirium0.37
mitral valve disorder0.32
aortic valve disorder0.32
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy0.31
alcohol drinking0.29
phobic disorder0.29
myocardial infarction0.28
arthropathy0.28

Open Targets ranks 182 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 5 total

DESFLURANEApproval

Intellectual disability · cognitive disorder · delirium

SEVOFLURANEApproval

endometrial cancer · myocardial infarction · sedation

HALOTHANEApproval

septic shock · Sepsis

ENFLURANEApproval

septic shock · Sepsis

ISOFLURANEApproval

kidney injury · Hydrocephalus · delirium

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.

Show remaining trials (24)

WITHDRAWN · via sevoflurane · NCT00531349

COMPLETED · via sevoflurane · NCT01851005

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

hypertrophic cardiomyopathyModerately supported
0.51
agreement 0.390.63
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.31 · 1 independent evidence family

alcohol drinkingLimited support
0.48
agreement 0.360.60
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.29 · 1 independent evidence family

phobic disorderLimited support
0.47
agreement 0.350.59
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.29 · 1 independent evidence family

sedationLimited support
0.47
agreement 0.300.63
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 1 independent evidence family

acute respiratory distress syndromeLimited support
0.47
agreement 0.310.62
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 2 independent evidence families

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

3

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 3 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. New publication2025-02-08
    Neonatal sevoflurane exposures inhibits DHHC5-mediated palmitoylation of TfR1 in oligodendrocytes, leading to hypomyelination and neurological impairments.

    Journal of advanced research · 2025 · 9 citations · Europe PMC · via sevoflurane

  2. New publication2003-02-01
    Early exposure to common anesthetic agents causes widespread neurodegeneration in the developing rat brain and persistent learning deficits.

    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2003 · 1,387 citations · Europe PMC · via Isoflurane

  3. New publication1995-01-01
    Sharp wave-associated high-frequency oscillation (200 Hz) in the intact hippocampus: network and intracellular mechanisms.

    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 1995 · 798 citations · Europe PMC · via Halothane

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.