Network Pharmacology Bridges Traditional Application and Modern Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has developed over thousands of years and has accumulated abundant clinical experience, forming a comprehensive and unique medical system. Emerging evidence has begun to illustrate TCM as an area of important medical rediscoveries. This review article briefly introduced the concept, significance, and technology of network pharmacology based on network biology and systems biology. It focused on the theoretical system and potential prospect of TCM network applied in TCM research and development including predicting new drug targets, action mechanism, new drug discovery; evaluating pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, safety, toxicology, quality control, and bioinformatics of drugs. We also discussed the opportunities and challenges in the development and application of network pharmacology in the modernization of TCM research.