Zhou HX, Guo W, Lin WW, Xu F, Zheng LY. Toward precision metabolic medicine: Multi-omics deconstruction and translational potential of herbal formulations in glycolipid metabolic disorders. World J Diabetes 2026; 17(10): 117952 [DOI: 10.4239/wjd.117952]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li-Yun Zheng, PhD, Professor, Henan Key Laboratory of Health Medicine and Liver Disease Prevention & Treatment, Henan Institute of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, No. 40 North Daxue Road, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China. zhengliyun@zzu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Huo-Xiang Zhou, Wei Guo, Wei-Wei Lin, Fang Xu, Li-Yun Zheng, Henan Key Laboratory of Health Medicine and Liver Disease Prevention & Treatment, Henan Institute of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhou HX and Zheng LY designed, wrote and edited the final manuscript; Guo W, Lin WW and Xu F reviewed and revised the draft of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Key Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province, No. 252102310044; Natural Science Foundation of Henan, No. 252300423870; and Basic Research Foundation of Henan Institute of Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, No. 2025BP0201.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Corresponding author: Li-Yun Zheng, PhD, Professor, Henan Key Laboratory of Health Medicine and Liver Disease Prevention & Treatment, Henan Institute of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, No. 40 North Daxue Road, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China. zhengliyun@zzu.edu.cn
Received: December 22, 2025 Revised: January 28, 2026 Accepted: February 25, 2026 Published online: October 15, 2026 Processing time: 284 Days and 13.7 Hours
Abstract
Glycolipid metabolic disorders represent a growing global health burden, characterized by interconnected dysregulations in glucose and lipid metabolism. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), broadly accepted as a holistic and multi-target approach, provides promising therapeutic directions for such complex conditions. Recently, Tian et al published a study in World Journal of Diabetes integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses to investigate the mechanisms underlying the ameliorative effects of Jiangtang Tiaozhi formula (JTTZF) on high-fat diet-induced glycolipid dysregulation in mice. The findings revealed that JTTZF modulated key genes involved in lipid synthesis, insulin signaling, and inflammation, and it also restored metabolic pathways for energy production and steroid hormone biosynthesis. This editorial highlights the crucial role of multi-omics methodologies in elucidating the systemic effects of herbal formulations and discusses how such integrative approaches can link TCM with modern precision medicine in the future.
Core Tip: Multi-omics technologies are transforming the research paradigm of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), transitioning it from an experience-based practice to an evidence-based science. The integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic study of the Jiangtang Tiaozhi Formula exemplifies how such approaches can systematically elucidate the “multi-component, multi-target” mechanisms of herbal formulations by revealing the regulation of gene networks and metabolic pathways in complex diseases, such as glycolipid metabolic disorder. Thus, the synergistic integration of traditional knowledge with modern systems biology provides a clear direction for the development of precise, mechanism-driven TCM therapies, promoting their incorporation into contemporary precision medicine.
