pharmacology is becoming a cutting-edge research field in current drug discovery and drug development thanks to rapid progress in systems Toceranib biology network biology and chemical biology. ” highlighting a holistic thinking also shared by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In TCM the perspective of holism has long been central to herbal treatments of various diseases. Characterized by holistic theory and rich experience in multicomponent therapeutics TCM herbal formulae offer bright prospects for the control of complex diseases in a systematic manner. Thus introducing network pharmacology in TCM will provide novel methodologies and new opportunities for discovering bioactive ingredients and endogenous/exogenous biomarkers revealing mechanisms of action and exploring scientific evidence of numerous herbs and herbal formulae in TCM on the basis of complex biological systems of human body. Moreover the integration of TCM and network pharmacology can greatly promote the progress of network pharmacology as well. Here we have grouped together 27 papers in this burgeoning field put forward for publication in this special issue on TCM network pharmacology. In the special issue we have firstly published four concise reviews Toceranib or perspectives PIP5K1A across the two fields between TCM and network pharmacology. The topics range from the research paradigm of network pharmacology based on TCM theory and practice the available databases and computational tools in TCM network pharmacology to the applications of network pharmacology in TCM. These papers highlighted some specific themes such as the concept of network target mechanisms of TCM herbal formulae and target identification of herbal active ingredients. For example a review article provided a perspective regarding TCM-based network pharmacology and its use in multiple compound drug discovery by following an analysis of the merged networks of differentially expressed genes in rheumatoid arthritis-cold pattern and protein targets related to Fu Zi Xi Xin and Gui Zhi. Three Toceranib other review articles comprehensively addressed the origin and development of TCM network pharmacology the definitions of basic network concepts the computational tools and data sources regarding TCM network pharmacology and the significance and approaches of network pharmacology in the TCM field as well as the target identification methods of herbal active ingredients and the use of ligand-protein networks. A remarkable feature of TCM is the use of herbal formulae. Understanding the mechanisms of action and combinatorial rules of herbal formulae is of great significance in TCM modernization and is also one of the important steps in modern drug discovery. The emerging TCM network pharmacology offers a unique opportunity to explore systematically not only the molecular complexity of an herbal formula but also the molecular relationships between an herbal formula and complex diseases. A practical strategy of TCM network pharmacology is the combined use of network-based computational predictions and experimental validations. In this special issue we have published 11 interesting research papers covering 10 classic herbal formulae by employing network-based approaches and omics-based experimental studies. For example two research papers established an integrative platform of Toceranib TCM network pharmacology on the basis of the concept of “network target multicomponent therapeutics ” and then applied this platform in the identification of active compounds and mechanisms of action of an herbal formula for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as well as decoction recorded in “in a rat model of collagen-induced arthritis the metabolomic analysis for pill in treating myocardial infarction in rats the proteomic analysis for determining the possible proteomic network associated with the antiarthritic effects of in collagen-induced arthritis rats and the experimental study of the protective effect of decoction in a rat model of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion. It is known that identifying the target proteins and combinatorial rules of active ingredients in herbal formulae remains to be a difficult issue. There are six papers to address such an issue from the network point of view by using bioinformatics analysis and experiments for example the mechanism of antirheumatic actions of formula by a module analysis drug-target network of tablet. Herbal active ingredients have long been viewed as a rich source of therapeutic leads in drug discovery. Network pharmacology is expected to be a new.