MINI REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1631727
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Untapped Potential: Innovations in Drug RepurposingView all 16 articles
Drug Repurposing in Traditional Chinese Medicine: From Empirical Wisdom to Modern Therapeutic Strategies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- 2Jiyang College, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, China
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), with its multi-component and multi-target nature, offers rich potential for drug repurposing. Advances in systems biology, computational modeling, and high-throughput technologies have enabled systematic analysis of TCM mechanisms, facilitating in the identification of active ingredients, target interactions, and synergistic effects. However, most existing reviews focus on individual methods rather than providing an integrative translational strategy tailored to the complexity of TCM. This review addresses that gap by proposing a stage-based framework that combines mechanism analysis, preclinical validation, and clinical translation. We highlight key methodologies such as network pharmacology, multi-omics, molecular docking, and phenotypic screening, and discuss how they can be synergistically applied.Emerging technologies including AI, big data, 3D bioprinting, and organoid models are evaluated not only for their utility but also through critical analysis of their limitations in capturing TCM's holistic principles. By bridging traditional knowledge with modern biomedical innovation, this review offers a novel roadmap for accelerating evidence-based TCM repurposing. The proposed integrative strategy supports more reproducible, mechanistically grounded, and globally relevant applications of TCM in modern drug development.
Keywords: TCM，drug repurposing, Systems Biology, Network Pharmacology, precision medicine, Translational research
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Huang, Guo, Lian and Suo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yuan Wu, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Maorong Suo, Jiyang College, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.