Protein / target

Sodium channel protein type 10 subunit alpha

SCN10AQ9Y5Y9Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
60
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Voltage-gated sodium channel activity

Primary system

Nervous system

Strongest disease association

sodium channelopathy-related small fiber neuropathy

Genetic literature evidence · score 0.87

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

60 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

60 approved · 12 in clinical development

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

Tetrodotoxin-resistant channel that mediates the voltage-dependent sodium ion permeability of excitable membranes. Assuming opened or closed conformations in response to the voltage difference across the membrane, the protein forms a sodium-selective channel through which sodium ions may pass in accordance with their electrochemical gradient. Plays a role in neuropathic pain mechanisms

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (22)

Domains & features

IQ

Gene Ontology

  • Caxon
  • Cclathrin complex
  • Cextracellular exosome
  • Cglutamatergic synapse
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cpresynaptic membrane
  • Cvoltage-gated sodium channel complex
  • Ftransmembrane transporter binding
  • Fvoltage-gated monoatomic ion channel activity involved in regulation of presynaptic membrane potential
  • Fvoltage-gated sodium channel activity
  • PAV node cell action potential
  • Pbundle of His cell action potential

1956 aa · 221 kDa

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Synaptic signallingGOIon channel gatingGOExcitatory neurotransmissionGOMuscle contractionGO
View supporting evidence

Synaptic signalling

  • ·glutamatergic synapse
  • ·presynaptic membrane
  • ·voltage-gated monoatomic ion channel activity involved in regulation of presynaptic memb…

Ion channel gating

  • ·voltage-gated monoatomic ion channel activity involved in regulation of presynaptic memb…
  • ·regulation of monoatomic ion transmembrane transport
  • ·sodium ion transmembrane transport

Excitatory neurotransmission

  • ·glutamatergic synapse

Muscle contraction

  • ·regulation of cardiac muscle contraction
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.

SCN1BSCN2BSCN4BSCN3BSCLT1TRPM4SCN5AS100A10ANXA2ANK3SCN10A

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

2

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.

Riluzole
ApprovedBlocker

Sodium channel alpha subunit blocker

Appears in clinical studies involving amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, Huntington disease

Acts on a complex — shared with SCN5A, SCN4A, SCN7A +6 more · 1 of 10 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

lamotrigine
ApprovedBlocker

Sodium channel alpha subunit blocker

Appears in clinical studies involving epilepsy, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, Seizure

Acts on a complex — shared with SCN5A, SCN4A, SCN7A +6 more · 1 of 10 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.

sodium channelopathy-related small fiber neuropathy0.87

Genetic literature · overall 0.63

atrial fibrillation0.84

Genetic · overall 0.71

episodic pain syndrome, familial, 20.81

Genetic literature · overall 0.72

cardiac arrhythmia0.66

Genetic · overall 0.68

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

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

epilepsy1.00

Clinical · overall 0.61

Pain0.99

Clinical · overall 0.61

bipolar disorder0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

Seizure0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

major depressive disorder0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

migraine disorder0.60

Clinical

Show all associations
episodic pain syndrome, familial, 20.72
atrial fibrillation0.71
cardiac arrhythmia0.68
sodium channelopathy-related small fiber neuropathy0.63
epilepsy0.61
Pain0.61
bipolar disorder0.60
Seizure0.60
major depressive disorder0.60
migraine disorder0.60

Open Targets ranks 650 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 · 76 total

NKTR-171Ind

neuropathic pain

TETRACAINEApproval

Pain · hemorrhoid · Pruritus

DRONEDARONE HYDROCHLORIDEApproval

atrial fibrillation

PROCAINEApproval

hemorrhoid · osteoarthritis · acute kidney injury

BENOXINATEApproval

Pruritus · myopia

ROPIVACAINEApproval

fetal growth restriction · preeclampsia · Pain

CENOBAMATEApproval

Seizure · Focal impaired awareness seizure · epilepsy

CHLOROPROCAINEApproval

cataract · Inguinal hernia · flatfoot

MEPHENYTOINApproval

epilepsy

ETHOTOINApproval

Seizure · Focal impaired awareness seizure · epilepsy

Tractability

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

Safety liabilities

gastrointestinal toxicity

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)

COMPLETED · via lamotrigine · NCT01463111

TERMINATED · via lamotrigine · NCT01891890

COMPLETED · via lamotrigine · NCT00088452

COMPLETED · via lamotrigine · NCT00513019

TERMINATED · via Riluzole · NCT01703039

COMPLETED · via lamotrigine · NCT00516139

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.

atrial fibrillationWell supported
0.96
agreement 0.851.00
Genetic50%Clinical43%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.71 · 3 independent evidence families

cardiac arrhythmiaWell supported
0.91
agreement 0.801.00
Clinical52%Genetic47%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.68 · 3 independent evidence families

episodic pain syndrome, familial, 2Well supported
0.79
agreement 0.670.91
Genetic84%Animal model15%Literature1%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.72 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

epilepsyWell supported
0.75
agreement 0.600.91
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 2 independent evidence families

PainModerately supported
0.75
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical99%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 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

60

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 2 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. Label change2026-07-27

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA206382)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  2. Label change2026-07-17

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (NDA218879)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  3. Label change2026-07-17

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (NDA218879)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  4. Label change2026-07-13

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA219677)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  5. Label change2026-06-26

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA204158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  6. Label change2026-06-26

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA204158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  7. Label change2026-06-26

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA204158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  8. Label change2026-06-26

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA204158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  9. Label change2025-12-31

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA090401)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  10. Label change2025-10-10

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (NDA022251)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  11. Label change2025-10-10

    Label change: LAMOTRIGINE (NDA022251)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

  12. Regulatory approval2025-10-07

    Approval: LAMOTRIGINE (ANDA219677)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lamotrigine

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.