Hou Xucan, Li Meng, Jia Congmin, Zhang Xianbao, Wang Yun
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Fusion and Utilization, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Drug Des Devel Ther. 2019 Aug 22;13:2957-2968. doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S216397. eCollection 2019.
Drug discovery for complex diseases can be viewed as a challenging problem in which the influence of compounds on dynamic features of disease system should be considered, especially the strategies escaping from the disease attractors. Moreover, escaping from the disease-related attractors has been proved to be a cue for the treatment of the complex diseases. The drug discovery methodology based on the attractor theory indicates new solutions for target identification, drug discovery and drug combination design. The methodology is based on the holism level of the organism and the features of system dynamics, so it has advantages for the classification of complex diseases and drug discovery. Currently, research results of this method have increased, which expand the insight scope for drug discovery. This article introduces the major drug discovery methods in the history of pharmacy development and their characteristics, so as to illustrate the reasons and inevitability of the appearance of attractor method, its position in the history of pharmacy development, and its advantages for drug discovery and design, thereby to prove that the attractor method can indeed become the next major drug development method. In addition, it provides a comprehensive description about the concept of attractor, the pipeline of attractor analysis, the common methods of each process and its research progress, so as to provide a macroscopic framework and optional methods and tools for the follow-up researchers.
复杂疾病的药物发现可被视为一个具有挑战性的问题，其中应考虑化合物对疾病系统动态特征的影响，特别是逃离疾病吸引子的策略。此外，逃离与疾病相关的吸引子已被证明是治疗复杂疾病的一个线索。基于吸引子理论的药物发现方法为靶点识别、药物发现和药物联合设计指明了新的解决方案。该方法基于生物体的整体水平和系统动力学特征，因此在复杂疾病分类和药物发现方面具有优势。目前，该方法的研究成果不断增加，拓宽了药物发现的视野范围。本文介绍了药学发展史上主要的药物发现方法及其特点，以阐明吸引子方法出现的原因和必然性、其在药学发展史上的地位以及其在药物发现和设计方面的优势，从而证明吸引子方法确实能够成为下一个主要的药物开发方法。此外，它还对吸引子的概念、吸引子分析流程、各环节常用方法及其研究进展进行了全面描述，为后续研究人员提供一个宏观框架以及可供选择的方法和工具。
