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Epilepsy

‘On-demand’ gene therapy for epilepsy

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Gene therapies show promise for treating epilepsy, but most strategies target cells across an entire brain region rather than selecting pathologically hyperexcited neurons. Researchers have now developed a conditional gene therapy strategy that downregulates firing activity only in neurons that are pathologically overactive and switches off when brain circuit activity has returned to baseline.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS ‘G. Gaslini Institute’, Genoa, Italy

    Pasquale Striano

  2. Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Pasquale Striano

  3. Center for Synaptic Neuroscience, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy

    Fabio Benfenati

  4. IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy

    Fabio Benfenati

Authors
  1. Pasquale Striano
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  2. Fabio Benfenati
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Correspondence to Pasquale Striano.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Striano, P., Benfenati, F. ‘On-demand’ gene therapy for epilepsy. Nat Rev Neurol 19, 130–131 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-022-00761-3

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