The Use of Omic Technologies Applied to Traditional Chinese Medicine Research

Table 1

Omic technologies and their areas of application in TCM research.

Omic approach	Area of application	Ref.
Genomics	Drug target identification; Genetic disease markers; Genome manipulation for target validation	[57–59]
Epigenomics	Study of epigenetic mechanisms of phytochemicals in the regulation of gene expression	[17]
Metagenomics	Study of the relationship between the gut microflora and the pathophysiological state of the host and drug metabolism	[18]
Toxicogenomics	Mechanism of toxicity (chronic, carcinogenic effect, and secondary effects of drugs); Biomarkers of toxicity and disease biomarkers; Gene expression profiling of contaminants of herbal remedies for quality control; Detection of toxic adulterants in herbal preparations; Screening tests for prediction of toxicity of herbs in the drug development process	[14, 20, 21]
Pharmacogenomics	Candidate genes with potential relevance in the efficacy and safety profile of TCMs; Drug targets; Identification of active compounds linking gene and disease information	[60]
Herbonomics	Mechanism of action of herbal components; Toxicity assessment of herbal remedies	[23, 24]
Transcriptomics	Prediction of therapeutic potential and safety	[16]
Proteomics	Therapeutic targets; Exploration of pharmacological effect and mechanism of multitarget regulatory actions; Quality control and toxicological profile of herbal remedies; Disease diagnosis; Biomarkers and monitoring of disease progression	[15, 16, 61, 62]
Phosphoproteomics	Study of disease pathogenesis; Disease biomarkers; Drug targets	[14, 63]
Glycoproteomics	Identification of aberrant proteins linked to pathophysiological processes; Diagnosis biomarkers; Mechanism of disease; Drug targets	[14]
Toxicoproteomics	Detection of biomarkers in response to xenobiotic exposure; Prediction of toxic response to herbal components	[30]
Chemoproteomics	Mechanism of disease; Mechanism of action of compounds of interest	[14]
Immunomics	Drug target; Biomarker identification; Study of immunomodulatory effect of herbs	[14, 62]
Interactomics	Drug discovery; Building interaction networks among interacting molecules	[14, 29]
Metabolomics	Pharmacokinetics; Pharmacodynamics; Toxicology; Disease diagnosis; Molecular pathology; Botanic identification; Standardization of herbal remedies; Quality control; Elucidation of toxicological profile of herbal preparations	[64]
Toxicometabolomics	Toxicity related biomarkers; Molecular pathways involved in toxicological responses to botanicals	[14]
Lipidomics	Mechanism of disease; Drug target discovery; Disease biomarkers	[14, 33, 45]
Phytochemomics	Mechanism of action of herbal compounds; Quality control of herbs; Production of herb-based medicinal products; Toxicity assessment	[34]
Pharmacometabolomics	Study of phenotype signatures by mapping key pathways of the metabolic drug effects; Pharmacology; Drug discovery and drug development; Personalized medicine	[63]
Chinmedomics	Mechanism of action and metabolic profile of Chinese formulae; Efficacy and safety of TCMs; Disease biomarkers	[35–37]
Metallomics	Functional study of metal/metalloid-containing molecules and metabolites (i.e., genes, polysaccharides, and proteins); Mechanism of action of herbs; Disease biomarkers; Toxicological profile; Quality control	[14, 45, 46, 65]
Ionomics	Mechanism of disease; Mechanism of action; Disease biomarkers; Toxicological profile; Quality control	[50, 51]
Phenomics	Disease biomarkers; Biomarkers of survival; Therapeutic targets	[66]
Cytomics	Disease biomarkers; Drug targets; Target validation; Personalized medicine; Drug development; Pharmacology; Toxicology	[14, 54, 67]