Cajanus cajan, popularly known as Pigeon pea in English, is a protein- rich medicinal plant, belongs to the family Fabaceae. It possesses a large number of secondary metabolites and some of them were reported to have diverse biological activities. Though several studies claimed multiple biological and pharmacological activities of Cajanus cajan, the present study has investigated the modulating efficacy of the ethonolic extract of Cajanus cajan leaves (CcELet) on the status of cell surface glycoconjugates (protein-bound hexose, protein bound hexosamine, sialic acid and fucose) in 7,12- dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) induced hamster buccal pouch carcinogenesis. The tumor bearing hamster’s plasma and buccal mucosa explored abnormal amount of glycoproteins as compared to control hamsters. The levels of both plasma and buccal mucosa glycoproteins were found to be declined in hamsters treated with DMBA + CcELet. The observed results thus revealed the cellular protective ability of CcELet in maintaining the cellular integrity by preventing cell surface glycoconjugates abnormalities during DMBA induced oral carcinogenesis.
