Expression Profiling-based Clustering of Healthy Subjects Recapitulates Classifications Defined by Clinical Observation in Chinese Medicine

Based on the theory of constitution of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), healthy individuals can be grouped into distinctive types. the global gene expression signature for distinctive constitutions has not been sufficiently explored. Here we examined gene expression profiles from 32 Chinese Han individuals with Yang/Yin deficiency (n=12 each) and Balanced constitutions (n=8). Venous blood (8ml) was obtained from each subject. We isolated the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for extracting RNA.

本研究基于中医体质理论（Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM），健康人群可被划分为不同的体质类型，但目前针对不同体质的全基因表达特征尚未得到充分探索。为此，本研究分析了32名中国汉族个体的基因表达谱，这些个体包括阳虚、阴虚体质者（每组各12例）及平和体质者（8例）。所有受试者均采集8mL静脉血，分离外周血单个核细胞（peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs）以提取RNA。