中药的特色是通过多成分、多靶点的整体调控作用来系统纠正疾病造成的机体失衡。中药在治疗多基因、多因素引起的某些复杂疾病方面相对西药(通常是单一化学成分药物)有独到优势。但以天然动植物为来源的中药在质量控制和疗效科学依据方面的不足严重影响了中药在现代社会的应用。目前,组合治疗现代医学和系统生物学的发展为中药现代化提供了新的机会。提出应用现代组合成分药物和组合治疗新概念,科学阐明中药药效的学术观点;并提出综合应用蛋白质组学和化学生物学等生物医学新兴科技从中药中开发现代组合成分新药的技术。

Chinese materia medica(CMM)defines health as the balance of whole body system and medications are designed tO restore this balance.Unlike western medicine that generally Uses a single chemical entity and sets a single physiological target,the efficacy herbal formulations in CMMResultsfrom complex mixtures of numerous chemical components which simultaneously interact with multiple molecular targets.CMM clinically shows the advantages over western medicine in the treatment of some multi-gene and muhifaetor diseases.yet the adoption of CMM stemmed from natural animals and plants in modern society is impeded by lack of quality control and absence of scientific proof of their effectiveness.Currently.the development of combinatorial medicines and system biology provide new opportunities to modernize the CMM.Thus,this review focuses on the modernization of CMM by employing the concept of combination therapy and cutting-edge biomedical technologies such as proteomics,bioehip,and chemical biology.Moreover,the author puts forward the new ideas and methodologies for the discovery of modern multicomponent drugs from CMM.