Invigorating spleen and lung

Invigorating spleen and lung (Jianpi Bufei) is a therapeutic principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and does not refer to a single molecular target, receptor, or enzyme. This concept describes a clinical strategy used to treat 'Spleen and Lung Qi Deficiency,' a TCM pattern frequently identified in patients with chronic respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma. Modern pharmacological studies indicate that herbal formulas following this principle exert their effects by modulating systemic inflammation, enhancing immune response, and improving skeletal muscle function via polypharmacology rather than a single-molecule mechanism. Consequently, it represents a category of multi-component herbal interventions rather than a specific biological target in the conventional drug discovery sense. (Sources: PMC6452583, PubMed: 30956637, NIH/NCCIH).

Other names

Jianpi BufeiStrengthening the spleen and tonifying the lungSpleen-invigorating and lung-supplyingJianpi Bufei principle

As a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapeutic strategy, it functions through multi-target effects involving the down-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8) and the modulation of the TLR4/NF-κB and JAK/STAT signaling pathways to improve lung function and systemic immune status.