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Antitumor Potential and other Emerging Medicinal Properties of Natural Compounds pp 387–404Cite as

High-Throughput Screening in Traditional Chinese Medicine-Based Drug Discovery

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Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of ailments and diseases over a long history of application, but its wider acceptance has been hindered by a lack of scientific evidence for efficacy and safety as well as a barrier of languages and cultures. In the 1990s, biotech and pharmaceutical companies have started to take interest in traditional medicines in their efforts to replenish the drying pipelines, yet the results were not sufficiently impressive to warrant extensive attention. Recently, along with the rapid advancements in biology and new technologies, there is a resurgent interest in the potential of the ancient medicine. Given our proximity to the Chinese mainland, our institute has utilized TCM as a source of potential drug candidates as well as a probe for understanding complex signaling pathways. This chapter describes the application of a number of versatile high throughput techniques for identifying therapeutic agents from TCM preparations. The rationale and principles for each approach will be discussed and illustrated with examples.

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Acknowledgments

Support for the work came from the Innovation and Technology Fund (AF/178/97, AF/166/99, ITS/119/00, ITS/113/03), the University Grants Committee (AoE/B-15/01, AoE/B-15/01-II, T13-607/12R and HKUST 660108), the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and Geron Corporation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Research Institute and Division of Life Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Catherine C.K. Wong & Yung Hou Wong

  2. Division of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Yung Hou Wong

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  1. Catherine C.K. Wong
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  2. Yung Hou Wong
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Correspondence to Yung Hou Wong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, NIH, Bayview Boulevard Street 251, Baltimore, 21224-6825, Maryland, USA

    Evandro Fei Fang

  2. , School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Tzi Bun Ng

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Wong, C.C., Wong, Y.H. (2013). High-Throughput Screening in Traditional Chinese Medicine-Based Drug Discovery. In: Fang, E., Ng, T. (eds) Antitumor Potential and other Emerging Medicinal Properties of Natural Compounds. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6214-5_26

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