Systems medicine

Systems medicine is an interdisciplinary field of study that looks at the systems of the human body as part of an integrated whole, incorporating biochemical, physiological, and environment interactions. Systems medicine draws on systems science and systems biology, and considers complex interactions within the human body in light of a patient's genomics, behavior and environment.[1]

The earliest uses of the term systems medicine appeared in 1992, in an article on systems medicine and pharmacology by T. Kamada.[2]

An important topic in systems medicine and systems biomedicine is the development of computational models that describe disease progression and the effect of therapeutic interventions.[3] [4]

More recent approaches include the redefinition of disease phenotypes based on common mechanisms rather than symptoms. These provide then therapeutic targets including network pharmacology[5] and drug repurposing.[6] Since 2018, there is a dedicated scientific journal, Systems Medicine.[7]

Fundamental schools of systems medicine

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Essentially, the issues dealt with by systems medicine can be addressed in two basic ways, molecular (MSM) and organismal systems medicine (OSM):[8][9]

Molecular systems medicine (MSM)

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This approach relies on omics technologies (genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, phenomics, metabolomics etc.) and tries to understand physiological processes and the evolution of disease in a bottom-up strategy, i.e. by simulating, synthesising and integrating the description of molecular processes to deliver an explanation of an organ system or even the organism in its whole.

Organismal systems medicine (OSM)

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This branch of systems medicine, going back to the traditions of Ludwig von Bertalanffy's systems theory and biological cybernetics is a top-down strategy that starts with the description of large, complex processing structures (i.e. neural networks, feedback loops and other motifs) and tries to find sufficient and necessary conditions for the corresponding functional organisation on a molecular level.

A common challenge for both schools is the translation between the molecular and the organismal level. This can be achieved e.g. by affine subspace mapping and sensitivity analysis, but also requires some preparative steps on both ends of the epistemic gap.[9]

Systems Medicine Education

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Georgetown University is the first in the Nation to launch a MS program in Systems Medicine. It has developed a rigorous curriculum, The programs have been developed and led by Dr. Sona Vasudevan, PhD.[10]

List of research groups

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Country University / Institute Department / Center / Program / Network Participants
Austria University of Vienna Centre for Organismal Systems Biology (COSB)[11]
Ireland Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Medical Systems Biology[12]
Luxembourg Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine Computational Biology group[13]
Netherlands Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) Department of Biomedical Engineering, Computational Biology Group (CBio)[14] Natal van Riel
USA Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) Leroy Hood, Alan Aderem, Ruedi Aebersold
Germany Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Department of Systems Immunology[15] Esteban Hernandez-Vargas
Netherlands Utrecht University

University Medical Center Utrecht

Maastricht University

Laboratory of Translational Immunology[16]

Utrecht Center for Quantitative Immunology[17]

Pharmacology and Personalised Medicine[18]

Prof. Timothy Radstake,

Dr. Aridaman Pandit

Prof. Harald H.H.W. Schmidt

Israel Weizmann Institute of Science Department of Molecular Cell Biology[19]

Systems Medicine course[20]

Uri Alon[21][22][23]
Norway Haukeland University Hospital Neuro-SysMed[24] Kjell-Morten Myhr, Charalampos Tzoulis

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Federoff HJ, Gostin LO (September 2009). "Evolving from reductionism to holism: is there a future for systems medicine?". JAMA. 302 (9): 994–6. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1264. PMID 19724047. S2CID 219774.
  2. ^ Kamada T (1992). "System biomedicine: a new paradigm in biomedical engineering". Frontiers of Medical and Biological Engineering. 4 (1): 1–2. PMID 1599879.
  3. ^ de Winter W, DeJongh J, Post T, Ploeger B, Urquhart R, Moules I, Eckland D, Danhof M (June 2006). "A mechanism-based disease progression model for comparison of long-term effects of pioglitazone, metformin and gliclazide on disease processes underlying Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus". Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics. 33 (3): 313–43. doi:10.1007/s10928-006-9008-2. PMID 16552630. S2CID 21941015.
  4. ^ Tiemann CA, Vanlier J, Oosterveer MH, Groen AK, Hilbers PA, van Riel NA (Aug 2013). "Parameter trajectory analysis to identify treatment effects of pharmacological interventions". PLOS Computational Biology. 9 (8): e1003166. Bibcode:2013PLSCB...9E3166T. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003166. PMC 3731221. PMID 23935478.
  5. ^ Oettrich JM, Dao VT, Frijhoff J, Kleikers P, Casas AI, Hobbs AJ, Schmidt HH (April 2016). "Clinical relevance of cyclic GMP modulators: A translational success story of network pharmacology". Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 99 (4): 360–2. doi:10.1002/cpt.336. PMID 26765222. S2CID 40005254.
  6. ^ Langhauser F, Casas AI, Dao VT, Guney E, Menche J, Geuss E, Kleikers PW, López MG, Barabási AL, Kleinschnitz C, Schmidt HH (2018-02-05). "A diseasome cluster-based drug repurposing of soluble guanylate cyclase activators from smooth muscle relaxation to direct neuroprotection". npj Systems Biology and Applications. 4 (1): 8. doi:10.1038/s41540-017-0039-7. PMC 5799370. PMID 29423274.
  7. ^ Baumbach J, Schmidt HH (2018). "The End of Medicine as We Know It: Introduction to the New Journal, Systems Medicine". Systems Medicine. 1: 1–2. doi:10.1089/sysm.2017.28999.jba.
  8. ^ Tretter, F; Löffler-Stastka, H (December 2019). "Medical knowledge integration and "systems medicine": Needs, ambitions, limitations and options". Medical Hypotheses. 133: 109386. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109386. PMID 31541780. S2CID 202718643.
  9. ^ a b Tretter, F; Wolkenhauer, O; Meyer-Hermann, M; Dietrich, JW; Green, S; Marcum, J; Weckwerth, W (2021). "The Quest for System-Theoretical Medicine in the COVID-19 Era". Frontiers in Medicine. 8: 640974. doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.640974. PMC 8039135. PMID 33855036.
  10. ^ https://systemsmedicine.georgetown.edu/ [bare URL]
  11. ^ "Organismal Systems Biology". lifesciences.univie.ac.at. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Medical Systems Biology". Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
  13. ^ "Computational Biology group". Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine. 16 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Computational Biology Group". Eindhoven University of Technology.
  15. ^ "Systems Biology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infectious Diseases, Braunschweig". Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.
  16. ^ "Radstake TRDJ".
  17. ^ "Utrecht Center for Quantitative Immunology".
  18. ^ "Pharmacology & Personalised Medicine | Pharmacology & Personalised Medicine". ppm.mumc.maastrichtuniversity.nl. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
  19. ^ "Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science". www.weizmann.ac.il. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  20. ^ "Systems Medicine course 2019 | Uri Alon". www.weizmann.ac.il. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  21. ^ Karin O, Swisa A, Glaser B, Dor Y, Alon U (November 2016). "Dynamical compensation in physiological circuits". Molecular Systems Biology. 12 (11): 886. doi:10.15252/msb.20167216. PMC 5147051. PMID 27875241.
  22. ^ Karin O, Alon U (June 2017). "Biphasic response as a mechanism against mutant takeover in tissue homeostasis circuits". Molecular Systems Biology. 13 (6): 933. doi:10.15252/msb.20177599. PMC 5488663. PMID 28652282.
  23. ^ Alon, Uri (2023-10-11). Systems Medicine: Physiological Circuits and the Dynamics of Disease (1 ed.). Boca Raton: Chapman and Hall/CRC. doi:10.1201/9781003356929. ISBN 978-1-003-35692-9.
  24. ^ Norges første forskningssenter for klinisk behandling tildelt Archived April 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine Annonsering 11/2018.