中药及复方功效的网络药理学研究与思考

Network Pharmacology in Research on Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Compound Prescriptions

中药及复方的功效基于实践而来,是方药临床作用特点和范围的高度概括及对人体医疗作用在中医学范畴内的特殊表达形式。网络药理学作为一种基于系统生物学理论以对生物系统多层次分析的交叉学科,已成为中医药研究中常用的虚拟筛选手段,在大数据与人工智能的推动下逐渐发展完善。现代医学背景下,方药功效的概念模糊、缺少科学论证。如何阐释中药功效内涵,指导中医理论研究成为目前中医药研究的热点与难点之一。该文从现代医学对功效的认识出发,探究使用网络药理学的分析方法进行功效研究的可行性,并结合过去功效相关的网络药理学研究结果探究其是否能代表方药功效的部分作用。汇总了现有功效研究适用平台与算法,从功效概念体现、靶点筛选、结果验证、功效网络的构建及避免网络药理学研究结果同质化等方面提出与讨论该领域研究思路及存在问题,同时展望未来的发展方向,旨在为深入探究中药及复方功效的现代生物学基础,为中医药临床应用及中医理论研究提供参考。

The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)and compound prescriptions is confirmed based on practical experience.It is a highly generalized expression of the clinical characteristics and scope of prescriptions and a unique expression of the medical effects of TCM.Network pharmacology,as a crossdisciplinary field based on the theory of systems biology and multi-level analysis of biological systems,has become a common virtual screening tool in TCM research and gradually developed with the progress in big data and artificial intelligence.In the context of modern medicine,the efficacy of TCM compound prescriptions has a vague concept and lacks scientific evidence.Elucidating the connotation of TCM efficacy and guiding TCM theoretical research has become one of the hotspots and difficulties in TCM research.This article explores the feasibility of using network pharmacology for the research on the efficacy of TCM compound prescriptions and investigates whether the research results can represent part of the efficacy of prescriptions.Furthermore,the research platforms and algorithms in this field are summarized.The research ideas and existing problems in this field are proposed from the aspects of efficacy concept embodiment,target screening,result verification,efficacy network building,and homogenization avoiding of network pharmacology research results.Finally,the future development directions are prospected.This article is expected to provide a reference for exploring the modern biological basis of the efficacy of TCM and compound prescriptions and for the clinical application and theoretical research of TCM.