Expression data from five human leukemia cell lines treated with DMSO or tanshinone IIA

Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) is a diterpene quinone extracted from the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza, a Chinese traditional herb. Although previous studies have reported the anti-tumor effects of Tan IIA on various human cancer cells, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying Tan IIA's apoptotic effects on leukemia cells and identified significantly differentially expressed genes (SDEGs). Five human leukemia cell lines were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.To identify genes that are related to Tan IIA sensitivities, we carried out expression profiling on five cell lines.The sample named HL60, MEG01, MOLT,THP1 and U937_control were treated with DMSO. U937 cell line was selected with Tan IIA treatment for 12 h and 24 h, respectively.