Objective To explore the core herbs of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions in the treatment of lung cancer and to predict their action mechanism and effect targets. Methods Based on the literature of the past twenty years， we first screened the main drugs for lung cancer in Chinese herbal prescriptions， and then explored the mechanism and key targets of the main drugs for lung cancer treatment by data mining through Chinese herbal network pharmacology database and TCGA tumor genome database， and then observed and adjusted the key points by large data and high throughput genome-wide information. Results Astragalus membranaceus is the core of Chinese medicine in the treatment of lung cancer， not only with the highest utilization rate but also with the most compatibility with other drugs， it can effectively interfere with PLD1 gene target， and PLD1 as a specific gene in lung cancer， especially in small cell lung cancer shows high expression， regulating PLD1. Conclusion Astragalus membranaceus is the core drug in the treatment of lung cancer， and its effective mechanism may be through the intervention of PLD1.