Protein / target

Sodium channel protein type 7 subunit alpha

SCN7AQ01118Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
59
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Osmolarity-sensing monoatomic cation channel activity

Primary system

Nervous system

Strongest disease association

epilepsy

Genetic evidence · score 0.07

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

59 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

59 approved · 9 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

Sodium leak channel functioning as an osmosensor regulating sodium ion levels in various tissues and organs. While most sodium channels are voltage-gated, SCN7A is not and lets sodium flow through membrane along its concentration gradient (PubMed:26537257, PubMed:35301303). In glial cells of the central nervous system, senses body-fluid sodium levels and controls salt intake behavior as well as voluntary water intake through activation of nearby neurons to maintain appropriate sodium levels in the body (By similarity). By mediating sodium influx into keratinocytes, also plays a role in skin barrier homeostasis (PubMed:26537257)

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (12)

Gene Ontology

  • Cglial cell projection
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cvoltage-gated sodium channel complex
  • Fosmolarity-sensing monoatomic cation channel activity
  • Fsodium channel activity
  • Ftransmembrane transporter binding
  • Fvoltage-gated sodium channel activity
  • Pcardiac muscle cell action potential involved in contraction
  • Posmosensory signaling pathway
  • Pregulation of membrane potential
  • Psodium ion homeostasis
  • Psodium ion transmembrane transport

1682 aa · 193 kDa

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

  • ·osmolarity-sensing monoatomic cation channel activity
  • ·sodium 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.

SCN1BSCN3BSCN4BSCN5ACAMK2ACAMK2BPRKACGPRKACAPRKACBSCN2BSCN7A

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, SCN2A +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, SCN2A +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.

epilepsy0.07

Genetic · overall 0.62

migraine disorder0.04

Genetic · overall 0.59

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

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

Pain0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

bipolar disorder0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

Seizure0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

major depressive disorder0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

focal epilepsy0.97

Clinical · overall 0.59

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

Pruritus0.59

Clinical

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis0.59

Clinical

cardiac arrhythmia0.58

Clinical

Show all associations
epilepsy0.62
Pain0.60
bipolar disorder0.60
Seizure0.60
major depressive disorder0.60
migraine disorder0.59
focal epilepsy0.59
Pruritus0.59
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis0.59
cardiac arrhythmia0.58

Open Targets ranks 477 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 · 72 total

PROPAFENONE HYDROCHLORIDEApproval

atrial fibrillation · Ventricular arrhythmia

DYCLONINEApproval

Pain

EVENAMIDEPhase 3

schizophrenia

MEXILETINEApproval

cardiac arrhythmia · ventricular tachycardia · ventricular fibrillation

MEPIVACAINE HYDROCHLORIDEPhase 3

Pain · diabetes mellitus

PROCAINE HYDROCHLORIDEPhase 3

Oral ulcer · AIDS

ESLICARBAZEPINE ACETATEApproval

Seizure · epilepsy · focal epilepsy

DISOPYRAMIDEApproval

cardiac arrhythmia · Ventricular arrhythmia · atrial fibrillation

QUINIDINEApproval

cardiac arrhythmia · ventricular fibrillation · Sudden death

PHENYTOINApproval

Seizure · epilepsy · Seizure

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · GO CC med confAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · 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)

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.

epilepsyWell supported
0.77
agreement 0.660.87
Clinical91%Genetic8%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.62 · 3 independent evidence families

PainModerately supported
0.75
agreement 0.580.91
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 1 independent evidence family

bipolar disorderModerately supported
0.75
agreement 0.580.91
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 1 independent evidence family

SeizureModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.91
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 1 independent evidence family

major depressive disorderModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

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.