Gene expression profiles of MCF-7 cells treated with Si-Wu-Tang, estradiol and ferulic acid

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), usually composed of a mixture of components, may simultaneously target multiple genes/pathways and thus achieve superior efficacy for complex diseases such as cancer. To identify novel mechanisms of action and potential health benefits for a TCM formula Si-Wu-Tang (SWT) widely used for women’s health, we obtained the DNA microarray expression profiles for SWT, its active component ferulic acid, and estradiol in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and analyzed the gene expression signatures associated with each treatment using the “Connectivity Map” (cMAP). This study indicates that DNA microarray profiling analysis and cMAP data mining provide a powerful approach to discover unknown mechanisms of actions and identify potential new health benefits for TCM. We profiled the gene expression of MCF-7 cell lines to SWT, its active component FA, as well as estradiol using Affymetrix human genome U133 plus 2.0 arrays. The data set includes profiles for 24 samples, divided into eight groups of treatment: 0.001% DMSO used as the vehicle control (C), 0.1 µM estradiol (EM), FA at three concentrations (0.1, 1, and 10 µM) (FL, FM and FH) and SWT at three concentrations (0.0256, 0.256, and 2.56 mg/ml) (SL, SM and SH). For each treatment group, 3 biological replicates were included, resulting in 24 (8 groups × 3 replicates/group) RNA samples.