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. Here, MMP9 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.