Predicting Meridian in Chinese traditional medicine using machine learning approaches

PLoS Comput Biol. 2019 Nov 25;15(11):e1007249. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007249. eCollection 2019 Nov.

Abstract

Plant-derived nature products, known as herb formulas, have been commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for disease prevention and treatment. The herbs have been traditionally classified into different categories according to the TCM Organ systems known as Meridians. Despite the increasing knowledge on the active components of the herbs, the rationale of Meridian classification remains poorly understood. In this study, we took a machine learning approach to explore the classification of Meridian. We determined the molecule features for 646 herbs and their active components including structure-based fingerprints and ADME properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), and found that the Meridian can be predicted by machine learning approaches with a top accuracy of 0.83. We also identified the top compound features that were important for the Meridian prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that molecular properties of the herb compounds are associated with the TCM Meridians. Taken together, the machine learning approach may provide novel insights for the understanding of molecular evidence of Meridians in TCM.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Forecasting / methods*
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional / methods
  • Meridians / classification*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the European Research Council Starting Grant agreement [grant number 716063]; the Academy of Finland Research Fellow funding [grant number 317680); and Helsinki Institute of Life Science Research Fellow funding. Y.W was supported by the China Scholarship Council [grant number 201706740080] and the Finland EDUFI Fellowship [grant number TM-18-10928]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.