Six characters in search of an author: the history of the nomenclature of coagulation factors.

Our knowledge of the blood coagulation system has expanded tremendously in the last 60 years. Many of the coagulation factors were identified through the detailed study of individual patients with a clear hereditary bleeding tendency. However, it became apparent by the mid-1950s that a unified nomenclature was desirable because many of the coagulation factors had been named independently by several groups of workers who studied different properties and who initially thought that they had discovered different factors. An international committee was, therefore, established in 1954 with the aim of harmonizing the nomenclature of the various factors. Roman numerals were assigned at various meetings of this committee held between 1955 and 1963. The current nomenclature is not entirely satisfactory, and perhaps the time has now come for a complete revision in the light of recent insights into the complex mechanism of blood coagulation.