title: Imbalanced network biomarkers for traditional Chinese medicine Syndrome in gastritis patients.
abstract: Cold Syndrome and Hot Syndrome are thousand-year-old key therapeutic concepts in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which depict the loss of body homeostasis. However, the scientific basis of TCM Syndrome remains unclear due to limitations of current reductionist approaches. Here, we established a network balance model to evaluate the imbalanced network underlying TCM Syndrome and find potential biomarkers. By implementing this approach and investigating a group of chronic superficial gastritis (CSG) and chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) patients, we found that with leptin as a biomarker, Cold Syndrome patients experience low levels of energy metabolism, while the CCL2/MCP1 biomarker indicated that immune regulation is intensified in Hot Syndrome patients. Such a metabolism-immune imbalanced network is consistent during the course from CSG to CAG. This work provides a new way to understand TCM Syndrome scientifically, which in turn benefits the personalized medicine in terms of the ancient medicine and complex biological systems.
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Division and Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, TNLIST/Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Xujun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Shao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005756:Gastritis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005757:Gastritis, Atrophic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity / Q000235:genetics; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007249:Inflammation / Q000235:genetics; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008957:Models, Genetic; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013577:Syndrome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C111835:CCL2 protein, human; D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D020738:Leptin