Omic techniques in systems biology approaches to traditional Chinese medicine research: Present and future

Abstract

Omic techniques have become key tools in the development of systems biology. As the holistic approaches underlying the practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and new tendencies in Western medicine towards personalised medicine require in-depth knowledge of mechanisms of action and active compounds, the use of omic techniques is crucial for understanding and interpretation of TCM development, especially in view of its expansion in Western countries. In this short review, omic applications in TCM research are reviewed which has allowed some speculation regarding future perspectives for these approaches in TCM modernisation and standardisation. Guidelines for good practice for the application of omics in TCM research are also proposed.

The pharmaceutical industry and natural products: historical status and new trends

“…tea, decoction, tincture) corresponds to the intake of complicated mixtures of NPs that potentially, may have mode of actions on multiple targets (Gertsch 2011). This becomes complicated when the preparations consist of a mixture of varying herbs as in the case of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (Buriani et al 2012). In the perspective of the drug discovery process, the development of drug leads ensures the beneficial effects of such herbal preparations to be valuable from a global health perspective.…”

“…Complex aspects (multi-component mixtures acting in complex biological systems) may be tackled by emerging systems biology approaches (Wang et al 2005;Fitzgerald et al 2006;Verpoorte 2012). In particular, ''omics'' approaches have been used recently, more extensively for the study of TCMs (Buriani et al 2012). For example, NMR based metabolomics has been applied to the study of human biological responses to chamomile tea ingestion.…”

Omics: A Newer Technique in Herbal Drug Standardization & Quantification

“…33 In Herba Epimedii in zebra fish combination of proteomic approaches and in vivo imaging be also used for analyzing mixed herbal preparation. 10 Microanalysis of gene expression allows rapid and detailed analysis of thousands of transcripts. Gene chip technology is one of the most powerful tools for elucidating the molecular mechanism and the network under laying the complex pharmacological function of herbal preparation.…”

Herbal Therapy: Can Omics Technology Create Order from Chaos?

“…Subsequent years (2004-2007) sought, moreover, authentication, fingerprinting, and quality control of herbs. Likewise, metabolomic profiling was also concurrently employed to substantiate data on identification and fingerprinting [7][8][9][10][11][12]. It was not, however, before 2008 when omics were introduced to boost the yet traditional herbal activity studies.…”