Methods of Treating Pain Conditions and Compositions Related Thereto

Methods are provided for treating a subject with a pain condition. Aspects of the methods include administering a gene therapy to the subject and/or a therapeutically effective amount of a composition that includes a gene therapy vector. Aspects of the vectors may include a nucleic acid sequence encoding a K-Cl cotransporter 2 (KCC2) polypeptide, including e.g., full-length and modified versions thereof. Methods are also provided for treating a subject by editing an endogenous KCC2 locus of the subject to encode a modified KCC2 polypeptide. Methods of detecting the presence of a pain condition are also provided, including where a pain condition detected in such methods is treated according to the methods described herein. Also provided are compositions, such as compositions including a gene therapy vector, such as a lentiviral vector, that includes a viral backbone nucleic acid comprising a sequence encoding a full-length human KCC2 polypeptide or a nucleic acid sequence encoding a modified KCC2 polypeptide.