Table 2.

Summarize the studies in therapeutic effect of deer velvet antler using multi-omics strategies.

VA sample	Therapeutic effect	Experimental subject	Omics	Major finding	Reference
Anti-oxidative and immunoregulatory effects
Red deer (Cervus elaphus) VA	Anti-oxidation	VA	Quantitative proteomic analysis	The antler samples recognized 259 differentially abundant proteins between tips and middle section major associated with antioxidant metabolic mechanisms.	33
VA	Immunoregulatory effect	VA	Analyzing the GeneCards, OMIM database, BATMAN-TCM and the STRING database via network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation techniques	Four substances and 130 target genes might be related in immunomodulatory effect. From the KEGG analysis, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, regulating T cell function, was one of enriched pathways. MAPK3–17 beta estradiol complex was also identified, that might be important in immune regulation.	34
Effect on ischemia-hypoxia
Sika deer VA protein: water extract	Hypoxic-ischemic cardiac disease	Hypoxic-ischemic cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs)	Proteomics	PI3K/Akt signaling pathway might involve in the protective effect of VA protein on CMEC	41
Pilose antler polypeptides (powder form)	Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy	Hypoxic-ischemic injured rats	Microbiomics	Alternation of gut microbiota contributes an inhibitory effect of VA on the inflammatory response mainly associated with reduction in serum LPS and inflammatory factors, and maintenance of the integrity of the intestinal barrier. Shifting gut microbiota by VA polypeptide also led to a functional change in the microbial communities.	36
Effect on bone and cartilage
The antler tip of Chinese Sika deer	cCartilage formation, development, and growth.	The antler tip	Transcriptomics	Numerous functional genes, such as extracellular matrices, growth factors and transcription factors, are involved in cartilage formation, development, and growth.	63
Deer antler stem cells from sika deer	Bone regeneration	VA and deer blastocysts	Transcriptomics	Antler stem cells expressed classic marrow stromal cells markers, suggesting that they have some attributes of the embryonic stem cells. Through comprehensively characterizing the antler stem cells could benefit the future human regenerative medicine.	55
VA extract from Chinese sika deer containing water-soluble proteins	Treatment of cartilage -related disease	Primary chondrocyte from 4-day-old neonatal mice	Proteomics	Promote proliferation and preventing apoptosis/differentiation of chondrocyte by controlling chromatin structure and dynamics, transcription, translation, posttranslational modification, signal transduction and alterations of the cytoskeletal structure in chondrocytes.	65
VA extract from Chinese sika deer containing water-soluble proteins	Treatment of cartilage -related disease	Sprague-Dawley rats	Transcriptomics	Downregulate the expression of genes associated with the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis and upregulate the expression of functional genes involved in cartilage formation, growth, and repair.	67
Antler blastema progenitor cells from sika deer (Cervus nippon)	Bone repair.	Femoral condyle defect repair in a rabbit model	Transcriptomics	Antler blastema progenitor cells could produce osteochondral lineage cells with strong self-renewal ability in vitro and in vivo, suggesting a potential application in clinical bone repair.	54
Velvet collagen hydrolysate from sika deer	Anti- osteoporosis effect	Urine samples of rats in the osteoporosis model	Metabolomics	Identify five biomarkers, including taurine, saccharopine, Trp, Asn, and Arg.	73
VA extract from Chinese sika deer containing water-soluble proteins	Anti- osteoporosis effect	Serum samples of rats with VA extract	Proteomics	Identified that 23 upregulated protein and 10 downregulated protein were mapped in a complex network, which affect the dynamic balance between osteoblasts and osteoclasts.	74
VA extract from sika deer	Anti- osteoporosis effect	The ovariectomized mice	Microbiomics	The gut dysbiosis caused by ovariectomy was restored after VA protein treatment with decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes in mice.	76
Antler stem cells (ASCs) from sika deer	Anti-osteoarthritis effect	The anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT)-induced mouse model	Proteomics and Transcriptomics	ASC-derived exosomes exert their geroprotective effects by promoting cell division and repressing the senescence-associated inflammation.	57
Other effects
VA polypeptides (powder form)	Anti-aging effect	D-galactose induced anti-aging mice	Microbiomics	Regulation of gut microbial composition by VA could affect the fatty acid degradation pathway, such as downregulating fatty acid by enhancing fatty acid decomposition. Reduction of fatty acid could contribute to increase in ATP and decrease in the expression of APOE4 in the brain.	81
VA extract	Anti-fatigue	Mouse model with forced swimming test	Transcriptomics	Nine pathways were regulated. Seven pathways involved in systematic effects with regulating sugar and energy metabolism through modifying two other local tissue pathways.	87
Water extracts of Formosan sambar deer (SVAE) and red deer (RVAE)	Anti-colitis	SDS induced mouse colitis model	Microbiomics and metabolomics	Anti-colitis effects might involve in the shift in microbiota. The potentially bioactive components of SVAE and RVAE were identified as small molecules	88
A chitosan/sodium alginate/velvet antler blood peptides hydrogel (CAVBPH)	Wound healing	A skin wound mouse model	Proteomics	the mechanisms of CAVBPH might be associated with the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and SIRT1/NF-κB pathways.	90
A velvet antler protein (VA-pro) extracted from velvet antler (Cervus elaphus residue by simulating the gastrointestinal digestion	Anti-tumor	Murine sarcoma 180 (S180) cells	Proteomics	A velvet antler protein (VA-pro), extracted from velvet antler residue by simulating the gastrointestinal digestion the velvet with average molecular weight of 22.589 kDa, could inhibit the proliferation and promote apoptosis of solid S180 tumors by inducing S phase cell cycle arrest of tumor cells mediated through mitochondria.	92

Results were obtained and selected from PubMed and SCIE databases in December 2023 (Table 2), by searching “deer antler proteomics/microbiomics/genomics/transcriptomics/metabolomics”.