Chemical Systems Biology of Herbal Medicines: Integrating AI and Systems Chemical Biology for Personalized Phytotherapy: A Review Article

Abstract

The field of personalized herbal medicine is rapidly developing as a holistic approach that integrates traditional phytotherapy practices along with modern scientific techniques for personalized treatment. The present article examines the phenomenon of pharmacogenomic fingerprinting as a tool for understanding, in a precise manner, differential gene-based and metabolomics-derived views of herbal drug responses. The genetic diversity of drug-metabolizing enzymes, transporters, and receptors plays a critical role in shaping herbal drug absorption, metabolism, and consequent efficacy, underscoring the need for genotype-directed treatment strategies. The rapid development of genome-scale and exome-scale analysis, as well as nextgeneration sequencing technologies, has strengthened the quality control processes necessary for the reproducibility of herbal drug efficacy and for prompt plant authentication; in addition, it has revealed the biological pathways of phytoconstituents in plants. Artificial intelligence accelerates such developments by enabling faster interactions across multiple datasets, analyzing herb-drug interactions, constructing toxicity risk graphs, and optimizing herbal drug formulations for personalized treatment strategies. However, the biochemical complexity underlying multicomponent herbal formulations, the lack of standardization methodologies, issues related to data privacy, and the non-generalizability of current state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models due to incomplete or biased dataset generation are areas where research has yet to address. To enhance these areas, shared analytical pipelines, fair data-distribution paradigms, harmonized policies, and collaborations across genomics, phytochemistry, data analytics, and mainstream medicine are needed. The synergy underlying the integration of pharmacogenomics, multi-omics technologies, and artificial intelligence provides a crucial launchpad for developing precision-medicine healthcare tailored to each patient’s distinct genetic heritage through herbal medicines.