At present, the DNA microarray application to study traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) has received more and more attention. Furthermore, kinds of TCMs were too large, and ingredients in TCMs were also extremely abundant, which afforded an extraordinary source for drug development. To pursue a suitable approach on the research of TCM components, we produced gene expression profiles of 102 TCM ingredients treating MCF7 cells. All selected molecules were main ingredients in Chinese herb and TCM formula. In addition, the gene expression profiles data can be analyzed in combination with public database connectivity map (CMAP) and other bioinformatics methods, which could identify the underlying pharmacological mechanisms and molecular targets/pathway of numerous components. This study indicated that the gene expression profiles data of TCM components was a very convenient and useful approach for researchers engaged in study of TCMs.
Overall design
Currently, we produced the gene expression profiles of MCF7 cells to 102 different molecules in TCMs, vehicle control (DMSO), and mixture of four compounds (tanshinone IIA, salvianic acid A sodium, protocatechuic aldehyde, salvianolic acid B). Two biological replicates for each group and the data set includes profiles for 212 samples.