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A pharmacogenomic profile of human neural progenitors undergoing differentiation in the presence of the traditional Chinese medicine NeuroAiD

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 16, pages 461–471 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

NeuroAiD, a traditional Chinese medicine widely used to treat stroke patients in China, was recently demonstrated in rodent models and in clinical trials to possess neuroregenerative and neuroprotective properties. In order to understand the mechanisms employed by NeuroAiD to bring about its neuroproliferative and neuroprotective effects, we investigated the impact of MLC901, a reformulated version of MLC601, on human neural progenitors undergoing neural differentiation at the molecular level by performing three independent microarray experiments. Functional annotations of the genes regulated by MLC901 that were associated with neurogenesis were found to be enriched. We also identified potential targets (FGF19, GALR2, MMP10, FGF3 and TDO2) of MLC901 that could promote neurogenesis and neuroprotection in the human brain. This work highlighted some interesting targets and offered some insights into the possible mechanism of action of MLC901. The discovery could also provide a platform to the development of future therapeutic targets.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D Picard and R N Gan (Moleac Singapore) as well as M Lazdunski (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) for their valuable and insightful discussions during the course of the project. We are also grateful to Moleac for their gift of MLC901 used in this study. This work was jointly supported by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Moleac PTE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genome Institute of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    H Y A Chan & L W Stanton

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    L W Stanton

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    L W Stanton

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  1. H Y A Chan
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Correspondence to L W Stanton.

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Chan, H., Stanton, L. A pharmacogenomic profile of human neural progenitors undergoing differentiation in the presence of the traditional Chinese medicine NeuroAiD. Pharmacogenomics J 16, 461–471 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/tpj.2016.21

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