Recent progress on the methodology for target study of traditional Chinese medicine

As an original source of pharmacological actions, drug target is the most direct, important and primary biological basis for drug effects. For a long time, no dramatic breakthroughs have been achieved on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) target identification and clarification, as well as potential molecular mechanism exploration because of the complicated components, leading to a huge obstruction on the progress of TCM modernization and internationalization. However, with the development of molecular biology, chemical biology and biophysics, researchers have established a series of methods for drug target identification for TCM, and tried to apply these methods to the target identification for TCM active ingredients and prescriptions, resulting in many innovative findings and promoting the development of TCM. Thus, this review summarizes the recent progress on TCM target identification, and hopes to provide a new idea to expand new research direction for the breakthrough progress of TCM study.