Digital twins are defined as digital replicas of processes, systems or devices developed to foster deeper understanding and prediction. While the concept of digital twins has largely been applied in the manufacturing industry, one could conceive of a digital twin that integrates information from diverse scientific and clinical sources to represent the complex and dynamic relationships within biological networks. Such an integrative system would allow one to gain a deeper understanding of the biology and be used as a predictive framework to design better drugs. The liver is a key organ in the body that is implicated in various diseases and injuries leading to drug failures and withdrawals. The study describes the development of a digital twin of the liver by integrating the knowledge and understanding gained by studying various liver functions, diseases and the effect of drugs, using a mathematical framework based on ordinary differential equations. This twin has been shown to be effective in reproducing the normal liver function, evolution of disease and the impact of treatment. Finally, a system that couples the twin with experimental measurements has been demonstrated to provide insights into drug-induced liver injury. The approach described in this paper is fairly general and can be applied to other organs and biological systems to develop drugs more efficiently and safely.

中文翻译：

---

用于药物发现和开发的数字孪生体——虚拟肝脏

数字孪生被定义为为促进更深入的理解和预测而开发的流程、系统或设备的数字复制品。虽然数字双胞胎的概念已广泛应用于制造业，但人们可以设想一种数字双胞胎，它整合了来自不同科学和临床来源的信息，以表示生物网络中复杂而动态的关系。这种综合系统将使人们能够更深入地了解生物学，并用作设计更好药物的预测框架。肝脏是身体的一个关键器官，与导致药物失败和停药的各种疾病和损伤有关。该研究通过整合通过研究各种肝功能获得的知识和理解，描述了肝脏数字孪生的发展，疾病和药物的作用，使用基于常微分方程的数学框架。这对双胞胎已被证明可以有效地再现正常的肝功能、疾病的演变和治疗的影响。最后，将双胞胎与实验测量相结合的系统已被证明可以提供对药物引起的肝损伤的见解。本文中描述的方法相当通用，可以应用于其他器官和生物系统，以更有效、更安全地开发药物。将双胞胎与实验测量相结合的系统已被证明可以提供对药物引起的肝损伤的见解。本文中描述的方法相当通用，可以应用于其他器官和生物系统，以更有效、更安全地开发药物。一种将双胞胎与实验测量相结合的系统已被证明可以提供对药物引起的肝损伤的见解。本文中描述的方法相当通用，可以应用于其他器官和生物系统，以更有效、更安全地开发药物。