Nothing New Since 1982

George’s colleague Kyle Fortier posted a provocative 12-1-15 comment on his timeline, “Professional vent: just spoke with a lab professional who said “nothing has changed in hemostasis since I took the course in 1982.” This person has worked in micro their entire career. I cringed. A lot.” With Kyle’s permission, I’d like us to think back to 1982 (if you are old enough), and list the changes you can think of. I will prime the pump:

• The Furies‘ 1992 publication, Furie B, Furie BC. Molecular and cellular biology of blood coagulation. N Engl J Med. 1992;19;326:800–6 turned hemostasis upside down by refuting prior models that claimed activation of factor XII in the so-called “intrinsic system” started the coagulation cascade. They showed that tissue factor exposure and coagulation factor VII activation in the “extrinsic system was the triggering event.
• Dr. Bjorn Dahlback’s initial correlation of activated protein C resistance to thrombosis risk in Dahlbäck B, Carlsson M, Svensson PJ. Familial thrombophilia due to a previously unrecognized mechanism characterized by poor anticoagulant response to activated protein C: prediction of a cofactor to activated protein C. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993;90:1004–8 opened the door to thrombosis risk testing.
• Maureen Hoffman MD and Dougald Monroe MD add an additional update of the coagulation model with cell-based coagulation in Hoffman M, Monroe DM, A cell-based model of hemostasis. Thromb Haemost. 2001;85:958–65.

OK, that is enough fun for me, there are many more, of course. Please send me yours.