Exploring CRISPR/Cas9 Technology for The Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine
- VernacularTitle:CRISPR/Cas9技术在中药现代化中的探索
- Author:
Shu-Xian WANG
1
;
Fei-Fei GUO
1
;
Guang-Qiang MA
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; gene editing; precision medicine; traditional Chinese medicine; AI drug screening
- From: Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2026;53(4):1000-1014
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/associated protein 9 (CRISPR /Cas9) immune system is an adaptive immune system widely distributed in bacteria and archaea. It precisely defends against invasion by exogenous phages, viruses, and plasmids through sequence-specific endogenous immune response mechanisms. As the most prominent member of this family, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has evolved into the most widely applied, flexible, and efficient technical platform in the field of genome engineering due to its exceptional genome modification capabilities. Within the CRISPR/Cas9 system, the Cas9 protein, precisely guided by a single-stranded guide RNA (gRNA), can specifically recognize target DNA sequences and induce double-strand breaks. This activates the cell’s DNA repair mechanisms, enabling gene knockout, knock-in, or modification. Demonstrating significant advantages in specificity, flexibility, and operability, CRISPR/Cas9 technology has shown immense potential in the medical field, opening new avenues for modernizing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. On one hand, this technology can be used to construct precise disease models and tailor personalized treatment plans. It enables in-depth elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the action targets and signaling pathways of TCM formulas and active components, thereby unraveling the scientific secrets of their complex mechanisms of action. On the other hand, it demonstrates powerful tool value in improving TCM germplasm resources, identifying and screening superior varieties, evaluating the controllability of TCM quality, and producing innovative drugs, providing technical support for the standardization and precision of TCM. Simultaneously, the high-throughput omics data generated by CRISPR technology is driving artificial intelligence (AI) to construct virtual disease models and drug prediction systems. This empowers the intelligent screening of effective TCM components, the precise prediction of potential targets, and the exploration of “reducing toxicity while enhancing efficacy” through formula combinations. This synergistic innovation between CRISPR and AI aligns perfectly with precision medicine’s urgent demand for personalized, efficient drug development, injecting new momentum into the modernization and transformation of TCM. This paper first systematically reviews and explains the developmental trajectory, structural basis, and action mechanisms of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, tracing its scientific evolution from a bacterial immune system to a gene-editing tool. It then comprehensively outlines the current state of convergence between precision medicine concepts and modernization research in TCM, analyzing the synergistic points and potential spaces for their integration. Against the backdrop of rapid precision medicine advancement, this paper emphasizes how CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology empowers in-depth analysis of TCM mechanisms—including specific applications in disease model construction, therapeutic target validation, and multi-target network regulation studies. It further elaborates on its multidimensional practical contributions to modernizing TCM, spanning key domains such as germplasm resource innovation, bioactive compound biosynthesis, quality standardization control, and novel TCM drug development. Finally, this paper envisions the future landscape of deep integration between CRISPR technology and AI: from data-driven intelligent drug screening to high-throughput precision discovery of effective TCM components, and further to intelligent model construction based on “reducing toxicity while enhancing efficacy” mechanisms. The synergistic convergence of these multidimensional technologies will pioneer new scientific paradigms and translational pathways for TCM modernization, propelling TCM toward leapfrogging development in the era of precision medicine.
