Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a chronic disease characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy. NT1 often strikes at a young age, severely impairing quality of life, and is frequently underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. NT1 is tightly linked to deficiency in the wake-promoting and state-stabilizing hypocretin (HCRT) neuropeptides, which are produced by a small group of hypothalamic neurons. Given its strong association with the HLA-DQB1*06:02 allele, NT1 is widely assumed to result from autoimmune destruction of HCRT neurons. However, whether autoreactive immune responses represent a cause or a consequence of the disease remains an open question, and immune-mediated pathogenic mechanisms distinct from autoimmune cell killing are being explored. The observation that genes highly expressed in the hypothalamus, including HCRT, are epigenetically altered in post-mortem brain tissue from patients with NT1 has led to an alternative model whereby immune-triggered HCRT gene silencing, ra