Bioinformatics databases for network pharmacology research of traditional Chinese medicine: A systematic review

Network pharmacology which is based on bioinformatics and system biology knowledge has been employed into the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) researches in recent years. In order to summarize current available bioinformatics databases, especially those can be used for TCM formulae study; a systematic search of Chinese literature by May 2017 was conducted. Results showed that research methods of network pharmacology have been widely applied in a variety of diseases and TCM formulae since 2012. Four comprehensive TCM bioinformatics databases with multi-functions were briefly introduced.