Objective: To study T lymphocyte related genes with differential expression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of Fei-qi deficiency (FQD) syndrome type by gene chips.
Methods: Lymphocytes in peripheral blood were isolated by Ficoll technique from blood samples collected from COPD patients of FQD syndrome type, Fei-yin deficiency (FYD) syndrome type, and also from healthy subjects for control. They were sorted and purified by flow cytometry, and the different expressed genes were screened from them by gene chip technique.
Results: There were 15 genes with high differential expression between patients of FQD type and those of FYD syndrome type, and between patients of FQD type and healthy subjects.
Conclusion: Gene chip technique could be used for studying the gene expression profiles of TCM syndrome, and the T-lymphocyte related genes with differential expression in COPD patients with FQD were screened preliminarily.