High-throughput screening in traditional Chinese medicine-based drug discovery

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of ailments and diseases over a long history of application, but its wider acceptance has been hindered by a lack of scientific evidence for efficacy and safety as well as a barrier of languages and cultures. In the 1990s, biotech and pharmaceutical companies have started to take interest in traditional medicines in their efforts to replenish the drying pipelines, yet the results were not sufficiently impressive to warrant extensive attention. Recently, along with the rapid advancements in biology and new technologies, there is a resurgent interest in the potential of the ancient medicine. Given our proximity to the Chinese mainland, our institute has utilized TCM as a source of potential drug candidates as well as a probe for understanding complex signaling pathways. This chapter describes the application of a number of versatile high throughput techniques for identifying therapeutic agents from TCM preparations. The rationale and principles for each approach will be discussed and illustrated with examples.