A comprehensive platform for quality control of botanical drugs (PhytomicsQC): a case study of Huangqin Tang (HQT) and PHY906.
BACKGROUND
Establishing botanical extracts as globally-accepted polychemical medicines and a new paradigm for disease treatment, requires the development of high-level quality control metrics. Based on comprehensive chemical and biological fingerprints correlated with pharmacology, we propose a general approach called PhytomicsQC to botanical quality control.


METHODS
Incorporating the state-of-the-art analytical methodologies, PhytomicsQC was employed in this study and included the use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) for chemical characterization and chemical fingerprinting, differential cellular gene expression for bioresponse fingerprinting and animal pharmacology for in vivo validation. A statistical pattern comparison method, Phytomics Similarity Index (PSI), based on intensities and intensity ratios, was used to determine the similarity of the chemical and bioresponse fingerprints among different manufactured batches.


RESULTS
Eighteen batch samples of Huangqin Tang (HQT) and its pharmaceutical grade version (PHY906) were analyzed using the PhytomicsQC platform analysis. Comparative analysis of the batch samples with a clinically tested standardized batch obtained values of PSI similarity between 0.67 and 0.99.


CONCLUSIONS
With rigorous quality control using analytically sensitive and comprehensive chemical and biological fingerprinting, botanical formulations manufactured under standardized manufacturing protocols can produce highly consistent batches of products.
Tilton
Robert
R
Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School Of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA. yccheng@yale.edu.
Paiva
Anthony A
AA
Guan
Jing-Qu
JQ
Marathe
Rajendra
R
Jiang
Zaoli
Z
van Eyndhoven
Winfried
W
Bjoraker
Jeffrey
J
Prusoff
Zachary
Z
Wang
Hailong
H
Liu
Shwu-Huey
SH
Cheng
Yung-Chi
YC