Introduction: The recognition of serum biomarkers for differentiation between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes would greatly increase the objectivity and treatment results. The objective of this study was to identify whether adiponectin (ADIPOQ), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2), and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP-4) are reliable biomarkers for differentiation between the heart-yang deficiency and heart-yin deficiency syndromes of TCM-based chronic heart failure.Methods: Serum samples of 25 heart-yang deficiency patients, 25 heart-yin defi...