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Network Pharmacology in Research of Chinese Medicine Formula: Methodology, Application and Prospective

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Abstract

Chinese medicine (CM) is usually prescribed as CM formula to treat disease. The lack of effective research approach makes it difficult to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of CM formula owing to its complicated chemical compounds. Network pharmacology is increasingly applied in CM formula research in recent years, which is identified suitable for the study of CM formula. In this review, we summarized the methodology of network pharmacology, including network construction, network analysis and network verification. The aim of constructing a network is to achieve the interaction between the bioactive compounds and targets and the interaction between various targets, and then find out and validate the key nodes via network analysis and network verification. Besides, we reviewed the application in CM formula research, mainly including targets discovery, bioactive compounds screening, toxicity evaluation, mechanism research and quality control research. Finally, we proposed prospective in the future and limitations of network pharmacology, expecting to provide new strategy and thinking on study for CM formula.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Ting-ting Luo, Yuan Lu, Xue Xiao, Xiang-lu Rong & Jiao Guo

  2. Guangdong Metabolic Diseases Research Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Ting-ting Luo, Yuan Lu, Xue Xiao, Xiang-lu Rong & Jiao Guo

  3. School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Shi-kai Yan

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  1. Ting-ting Luo
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  2. Yuan Lu
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  3. Shi-kai Yan
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  4. Xue Xiao
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  5. Xiang-lu Rong
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  6. Jiao Guo
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Contributions

Guo J and Yan SK conceived the idea. Luo TT drafted the manuscript. Lu Y, Xiao X and Rong XL revised and proofed the manuscript. All authors contributed to literature review and approved the final manuscript for publication.

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Correspondence to Jiao Guo.

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The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81530102), Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Agency Special Funds (No. 2017B050504005), and Guangzhou City Science and Technology Agency Special Funds (No. 201803010069)

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Luo, Tt., Lu, Y., Yan, Sk. et al. Network Pharmacology in Research of Chinese Medicine Formula: Methodology, Application and Prospective. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 26, 72–80 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-019-3064-0

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