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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-022-00761-3