Combination therapeutics in complex diseases.
The biological redundancies in molecular networks of complex diseases limit the efficacy of many single drug therapies. Combination therapeutics, as a common therapeutic method, involve pharmacological intervention using several drugs that interact with multiple targets in the molecular networks of diseases and may achieve better efficacy and/or less toxicity than monotherapy in practice. The development of combination therapeutics is complicated by several critical issues, including identifying multiple targets, targeting strategies and the drug combination. This review summarizes the current achievements in combination therapeutics, with a particular emphasis on the efforts to develop combination therapeutics for complex diseases.
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.
Bing
B
He
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.|Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Cheng
C
Lu
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.
Guang
G
Zheng
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.|Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiaojuan
X
He
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.
Maolin
M
Wang
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.
Gao
G
Chen
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.
Ge
G
Zhang
Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone & Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.|Institute of Integrated Bioinformedicine & Translational Science, HKBU Shenzhen Research Institute and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China.|Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Aiping
A
Lu
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D019295:Computational Biology; D004194:Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans
D004338:Drug Combinations
combination therapeutics; complex diseases; molecular network