Network Pharmacology in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Network pharmacology is becoming a cutting-edge research field in current drug discovery and drug development thanks to rapid progress in systems biology, network biology, and chemical biology. By integrating reductionist and systems approaches as well as computational and experimental methods, network pharmacology has great potential to act as the next generation mode of drug research. Network pharmacology studies emphasize the paradigm shift from " one target, one drug " to " network target, multicomponent therapeutics, " highlighting a holistic thinking also shared by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In TCM, the perspective of holism has long been central to herbal treatments of various diseases. Characterized by holistic theory and rich experience in multicomponent therapeutics, TCM herbal formulae offer bright prospects for the control of complex diseases in a systematic manner. Thus, introducing network pharmacology in TCM will provide novel methodologies and new opportunities for discovering bioactive ingredients and endogenous/exogenous biomarkers, revealing mechanisms of action and exploring scientific evidence of numerous herbs and herbal formulae in TCM on the basis of complex biological systems of human body. Moreover, the integration of TCM and network pharmacology can greatly promote the progress of network pharmacology as well. Here, we have grouped together 27 papers in this burgeoning field, put forward for publication in this special issue on TCM network pharmacology. In the special issue, we have firstly published four concise reviews or perspectives across the two fields between TCM and network pharmacology. The topics range from the research paradigm of network pharmacology based on TCM theory and practice, the available databases and computational tools in TCM network pharmacology, to the applications of network pharmacology in TCM. These papers highlighted some specific themes, such as the concept of network target, mechanisms of TCM herbal formulae, and target identification of herbal active ingredients. For example, a review article provided a perspective regarding TCM-based network pharmacology and its use in multiple compound drug discovery, by following an analysis of the merged networks of differentially expressed genes in rheumatoid arthritis-cold pattern and protein targets related to Fu Zi, Xi Xin and Gui Zhi. Three other review articles comprehensively addressed the origin and development of TCM network pharmacology, the definitions of basic network concepts, the computational tools and data sources regarding TCM network pharmacology, and the significance and approaches of network pharmacology in the TCM field, as well as the target identification methods of herbal active ingredients and the …