In the C-T network, emperor herbs mainly hit cytokines related to COPD airway inflammation and mucus hypersecretion such as IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN -γ, TGF-β1, EGF and EGFR, whilst messenger herbs hit more targets that were associated with airway damage and remodeling (eg. matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9)16, or hypercoagulability state of COPD (coagulation factors)17, which suggested that emperor herbs have main actions and the messenger herb has supporting role in treating COPD. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.