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Protein / target

Voltage-gated potassium channel KCNC4

Encoded byKCNC4Q03721Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
5
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Delayed rectifier potassium channel

Strongest disease association

Neurodegenerative Diseases

Via encoding gene KCNC4 · Clinical evidence · score 0.42

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

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 overview

Voltage-gated potassium channel that opens in response to the voltage difference across the membrane, forming a potassium-selective channel through which potassium ions pass in accordance with their electrochemical gradient.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Voltage-gated potassium channel that opens in response to the voltage difference across the membrane, forming a potassium-selective channel through which potassium ions pass in accordance with their electrochemical gradient (PubMed:7993631). The channel displays rapid activation and inactivation kinetics (PubMed:7993631)

Subcellular location

Membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (16)

Gene Ontology

  • Caxon terminus
  • Cdendrite membrane
  • Cneuronal cell body membrane
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cpostsynaptic membrane
  • Cpresynaptic membrane
  • Cvoltage-gated potassium channel complex
  • Fdelayed rectifier potassium channel activity
  • Fmetal ion binding
  • Fpotassium channel activity
  • Fvoltage-gated potassium channel activity
  • Paction potential

635 aa · 70 kDa · 3 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Synaptic signallingGOIon channel gatingGO
View supporting evidence

Synaptic signalling

  • ·postsynaptic membrane
  • ·presynaptic membrane
  • ·chemical synaptic transmission

Ion channel gating

  • ·potassium ion transmembrane transport

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

Approved medicines with mapped indications

2 medicines · 2 areas

Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.

Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome1 medicine
Multiple Sclerosis1 medicine

5 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 2 shown here are those on this page with a canonical approved disease indication in the graph. Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.

Drugs targeting this protein

2

How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

dalfampridine
ApprovedBlocker

Voltage-gated potassium channel blocker

Indicated for Multiple Sclerosis

Acts on a complex — shared with KCNC3, KCNB1, KCNA10 +36 more · 1 of 40 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

amifampridine
ApprovedBlocker

Voltage-gated potassium channel blocker

Indicated for Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome

Acts on a complex — shared with KCNC3, KCNB1, KCNA10 +36 more · 1 of 40 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene KCNC4

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene KCNC4that encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Neurodegenerative Diseases
0.53Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.42

Neoplasms
0.48Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.38

Arrhythmias, Cardiac
0.46Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

View evidence synthesis (3)
Neurodegenerative DiseasesModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.400.66
Clinical77%Pathway21%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.42 · 3 independent evidence families

NeoplasmsLimited support
0.48
agreement 0.320.63
Clinical93%Literature8%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 2 independent evidence families

Arrhythmias, CardiacLimited support
0.46
agreement 0.300.61
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 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 per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.42
Neoplasms0.38
Arrhythmias, Cardiac0.37

Drug development

6 compounds recorded · 5 approved · 1 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 2 drugs that target this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (2 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (6)
AMIFAMPRIDINEApproval
TEDISAMILApproval
NERISPIRDINEPhase 2
GUANIDINE HYDROCHLORIDEApproval
DALFAMPRIDINEApproval
AMIFAMPRIDINE PHOSPHATEApproval

Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.

Tractability

Small moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and Druggable Family support this modality.

AntibodiesEmerging

Feasibility evidence (go cc high conf and uniprot sigp or tmhmm) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (4)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMM

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

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. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

View all trials (26)

RECRUITING · via dalfampridine · NCT06333171

RECRUITING · via dalfampridine · NCT06853015

TERMINATED · via dalfampridine · NCT04026568

COMPLETED · via dalfampridine · NCT02006160

COMPLETED · via dalfampridine · NCT01444300

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

6

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 2 drugs that target this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.

  1. Supplemental approval2026-08-10

    Supplemental approval: DALFAMPRIDINE (ANDA210158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via dalfampridine

  2. Label change2023-04-11

    Label change: DALFAMPRIDINE (ANDA210158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via dalfampridine

  3. Label change2021-09-15

    Label change: DALFAMPRIDINE (ANDA210158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via dalfampridine

  4. Label change2020-08-14

    Label change: DALFAMPRIDINE (ANDA210158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via dalfampridine

  5. Regulatory approval2019-03-11

    Approval: DALFAMPRIDINE (ANDA210158)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via dalfampridine

  6. Regulatory approval2009-12-23

    Approval: Firdapse (previously Zenas) (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via amifampridine

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.