Chen X, Zhou H, Liu Y B, Wang J F, Li H, Ung C Y, Han L Y, Cao Z W, Chen Y Z
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Br J Pharmacol. 2006 Dec;149(8):1092-103. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0706945. Epub 2006 Nov 6.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely practised and is viewed as an attractive alternative to conventional medicine. Quantitative information about TCM prescriptions, constituent herbs and herbal ingredients is necessary for studying and exploring TCM.
We manually collected information on TCM in books and other printed sources in Medline. The Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Database TCM-ID, at http://tcm.cz3.nus.edu.sg/group/tcm-id/tcmid.asp, was introduced for providing comprehensive information about all aspects of TCM including prescriptions, constituent herbs, herbal ingredients, molecular structure and functional properties of active ingredients, therapeutic and side effects, clinical indication and application and related matters.
TCM-ID currently contains information for 1,588 prescriptions, 1,313 herbs, 5,669 herbal ingredients, and the 3D structure of 3,725 herbal ingredients. The value of the data in TCM-ID was illustrated by using some of the data for an in-silico study of molecular mechanism of the therapeutic effects of herbal ingredients and for developing a computer program to validate TCM multi-herb preparations.
The development of systems biology has led to a new design principle for therapeutic intervention strategy, the concept of 'magic shrapnel' (rather than the 'magic bullet'), involving many drugs against multiple targets, administered in a single treatment. TCM offers an extensive source of examples of this concept in which several active ingredients in one prescription are aimed at numerous targets and work together to provide therapeutic benefit. The database and its mining applications described here represent early efforts toward exploring TCM for new theories in drug discovery.
传统中医（TCM）应用广泛，被视为传统医学颇具吸引力的替代医学。研究和探索中医需要有关中药方剂、组成草药及草药成分的定量信息。
我们手动收集了Medline中书籍及其他印刷资料里有关中医的信息。介绍了位于http://tcm.cz3.nus.edu.sg/group/tcm-id/tcmid.asp的传统中医信息数据库TCM-ID，以提供有关中医各方面的全面信息，包括方剂、组成草药、草药成分、活性成分的分子结构和功能特性、治疗及副作用、临床适应症与应用以及相关事项。
TCM-ID目前包含1588个方剂、1313种草药、5669种草药成分以及3725种草药成分的三维结构信息。通过将其中一些数据用于草药成分治疗效果分子机制的计算机模拟研究以及开发验证中药多草药制剂的计算机程序，说明了TCM-ID中数据的价值。
系统生物学的发展带来了治疗干预策略的新设计原则，即“神奇弹片”（而非“神奇子弹”）概念，涉及多种药物针对多个靶点，单次治疗联合使用。中医为此概念提供了丰富的实例来源，其中一个方剂中的多种活性成分针对众多靶点共同发挥治疗作用。本文描述的数据库及其挖掘应用代表了探索中医以获取药物发现新理论的早期努力。
