Bridging the seen and the unseen

A systems pharmacology view of herbal medicine

Yan Schroën, Mei Wang, Herman van Wietmarschen, Renger Witkamp, Thomas Hankemeier, Tai-Ping Fan, Jan van der Greef. 2015. Bridging the seen and the unseen: A systems pharmacology view of herbal medicine. Science. 6262. 350
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Taal/language: Engels
Abstract / summary in English:

The human body functions as a dynamic ecosystem consisting of innumerable interacting systems, creating emerging properties and synergetic effects and extending beyond the physical barriers of the human organism, encompassing interactions with the environment. Understanding the human organism in its full complexity requires consideration of its different levels of organization. Medical questions regarding how a disease develops and how to prevent and intervene are amenable to a systemoriented paradigm in which interventions include multitarget pharmacological strategies that can influence processes across systems.
"Although Western medicine has provided a very successful disease management system based on intervention at a single target, further improvements will rely heavily on new diagnostic tools to differentiate between disease subtypes and individual biological patterns. Recognition of the uniqueness of each human entails differentiation at higher levels of organization, which requires
"a systems approach and expanded diagnostic insights .

Keywords in English: Keywords: herbal medicine, systems pharmacology, medicinal plant research