Tissue binding patterns of lectins in premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity.

Lectins from the seeds of Jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia) and winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) were isolated using an immobilized N-acetyl D-galactosamine column and conjugated to type VI horse radish peroxidase. The purified conjugate was used for the study of tissue specificities using diaminobenzidine as the substrate on dewaxed tissue sections of normal, oral leukoplakia, oral submucous fibrosis, verucous carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. In spite of having a common inhibitory sugar, winged bean lectin did not bind to any lectins whereas Jackfruit lectin showed varying degrees of binding towards the above tissues. The difference in the nature and intensity of binding of the Jackfruit lectin suggest the utilizing this lectin in the differential diagnosis of the premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity.