基于单细胞组学的中药现代研究:技术及思路

Modern research on Chinese medicine based on single-cell omics:technologies and strategies

单细胞组学技术是近年来发展极为迅速的新兴技术之一,可在单细胞尺度上实现多种组学信息的无偏、高通量获取。目前,单细胞组学技术凭借其强大的组织异质性解析力,已成为深入理解组织的功能结构、揭示复杂疾病过程和阐明药物作用机制的革命性工具。针对破解中药复杂性、阐明中医药理论现代科学内涵所面临的技术挑战,单细胞组学技术在发现药效物质、构建作用网络和阐明整合调节机制等方面有着巨大的应用潜力,为中医药现代研究带来了新机遇。该文简要介绍了单细胞转录组测序、空间转录组和单细胞多模态组学等代表性单细胞组学技术及其主要应用模式,并在此基础上对采用单细胞组学技术开展中药现代研究的思路和应用场景进行了展望。

As one of the most advanced technologies,single-cell omics technology develops rapidly in recent years.Based on different technical strategies,it enables unbiased and high-throughput access to multiple omics information at single-cell resolution.So far,single-cell omics technology,by virtue of its great powder in resolving tissue heterogeneity,has become a revolutionary tool to deeply understand the functional structure of tissues,reveal complex disease processes,and elucidate drug mechanisms of action.In view of the technical challenges in deconstructing the complexity of Chinese medicine and clarifying the modern scientific connotation of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)theory,single-cell omics technology has huge application potential in the discovery of pharmacodynamic substances,construction of action networks,and elucidation of integrated regulatory mechanisms,which brings new opportunities for modern research in TCM.The present study briefly introduced three representative single-cell omics technologies,i.e.,single-cell transcriptome sequencing,spatial transcriptomics,and single-cell multimodal omics,and their main application patterns.On this basis,an outlook was proposed on the strategies and applications for modern research in TCM using single-cell omics technology.