Potassium channels as targets for therapeutic intervention.

The potassium channel superfamily presents a rich source of targets for therapeutic intervention. Indeed, the development of specific potassium channel modulators could lead to the effective treatment of various diseases for which current therapies are clearly suboptimal. Numerous factors play a role in determining whether the successful clinical development of such drugs can ever be achieved. However, the large body of information accumulated over the last few years on the structure and function of potassium channels is expected to drive drug-development efforts in the pharmaceutical industry on these targets, with the ultimate goal of developing therapies that will improve patient quality of life.