Arctium lappa L.

Arctigenin, naturally occurring in Bardanae fructus, Saussurea medusa, Arctium lappa L., Torreya nucifera and Ipomea cairica, is a phenylpropanoid dibenzylbutyrolactone lignan with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, it can potently inhibit the activity of MKK1 in vitro with the IC(50) value of 1 nM, and inhibit activation of MAP kinases including ERK1/2, p38 kinase and JNK through the inhibition of MKK activities, leading to AP-1 inactivation, which might, at least in part, contribute to the inhibition of TNF-α production, inhibits expression via suppressing JAK-pathway in macrophages.[1,2]

Arctiin, a lignan isolated from Arctium lappa (burdock) seeds, has a protective effect on 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) -induced carcinogenesis particularly in the mammary gland in the promotion period, it may have a weak co-carcinogenic influence on MeIQx-induced hepatocarcinogenesis.