1.
Some Important Milestones in the Field of Blood Clotting.
Doolittle, RF
Journal of innate immunity. 2016;(1):23-9
Abstract
Several different kinds of 'milestone' in the field of blood coagulation are described from the middle decades of the 20th century. Although viewed from the standpoint of clotting per se, attention is also given to implications for innate immunity. The first milestone considered is the protracted saga of clotting dependence on vitamin K, an adventure that spanned more than five decades beginning in the 1920s. The second has to do with the discovery of a half-dozen 'new' clotting factors during the period immediately following World War II. A third pursues a narrower focus and examines the once mysterious transformation of fibrinogen into fibrin. Finally, the clinical treatment of classical hemophilia had a remarkable turning point in the 1960s as the result of simple but sensible measures.
2.
Polyphosphate, platelets, and coagulation.
Travers, RJ, Smith, SA, Morrissey, JH
International journal of laboratory hematology. 2015;(0 1):31-5
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Abstract
While we have understood the basic outline of the enzymes and reactions that make up the traditional blood coagulation cascade for many years, recently our appreciation of the complexity of these interactions has greatly increased. This has resulted in unofficial 'revisions' of the coagulation cascade to include new amplification pathways and connections between the standard coagulation cascade enzymes, as well as the identification of extensive connections between the immune system and the coagulation cascade. The discovery that polyphosphate is stored in platelet dense granules and is secreted during platelet activation has resulted in a recent burst of interest in the role of this ancient molecule in human biology. Here we review the increasingly complex role of platelet polyphosphate in hemostasis, thrombosis, and inflammation that has been uncovered in recent years, as well as novel therapeutics centered on modulating polyphosphate's roles in coagulation and inflammation.