Abstract. Arctium lappa, commonly known as burdock, is being promoted/recommended as a healthy and nutritive food in Chinese societies. Burdock has been used therapeutically in Europe, North America and Asia for hundreds of years. The roots, seeds and leaves of burdock have been investigated in view of its popular uses in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In this review, the reported therapeutic effects of the active compounds present in the different botanical parts of burdock are summarized. In the root, the active ingredients have been found to "detoxify" blood in TCM term and promote blood circulation to the skin surface, improving the skin quality/texture and curing skin diseases like eczema. Antioxidants and anti-diabetic compounds have also been found in the root. In the seeds, some active compounds possess anti-inflammatory effects, and potent inhibitory effects on the growth of tumors such as the pancreatic carcinoma. In the leaf extract, the active compounds isolated can inhibit the growth of micro-organisms in the oral cavity. The medicinal uses of burdock in treating chronic diseases like cancers, diabetes and AIDS have been reported. However, it is also essential to be aware of the side-effects of burdock including contact dermatitis and other allergic/inflammatory responses that might be evoked by burdock.

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We hypothesized that radiation-induced rescue effect (RIRE) shared similar mechanisms with ‘metabolic cooperation’, in which nutrient-deprived cancer cells prompted normal cells to provide nutrients. Our data demonstrated that X-ray irradiation induced autophagy in HeLa cells, which could last at least 18 h, and proved that the irradiated cells (IRCs) resorted to breaking down their own intracellular components to supply the molecules required for cell-repair enhancement (e.g. to activate the NF-κB pathway) in the absence of support from bystander unirradiated cells (UICs). Furthermore, autophagy accumulation in IRCs was significantly reduced when they were partnered with UICs, and more so with UICs with pre-induced autophagy before partnering (through starvation using Earle’s Balanced Salt Solution), which showed that the autophagy induced in UICs supported the IRCs. Our results also showed that interleukin 6 (IL-6) was secreted by bystander UICs, particularly the UICs with pre-induced autophagy, when they were cultured in the medium having previously conditioned irradiated HeLa cells. It was established that autophagy could activate the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) that was required for the IL-6 production in the autophagy process. Taken together, the metabolic cooperation of RIRE was likely initiated by the bystander factors released from IRCs, which induced autophagy and activated STAT3 to produce IL-6 in bystander UICs, and was finally manifested in the activation of the NF-κB pathway in IRCs by the IL-6 secreted by the UICs.