Russell Viper Venom: A Journey from the Bedside to the Bench and Back to the Bedside

Abstract

Russel Viper Venom (RVV) is widely used as a diagnostic test for antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). But the history of how this venom came to be discovered is well known. Dr Patrick Russel is responsible for the identification of the venom during his work on snake bites in India while Dr Robert Macfarlane used it to staunch bleeding in persons with haemophilia. The ability to directly activate factor X led RVV to the laboratory diagnosis of APS. More recently, it has come back to clinical world with a potential for an engineered factor X activator from RVV to be used in the treatment of haemophilia.

Celebrating 50 Years of Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis—Part III

“…Following this is a commentary from Jecko Thachil on Russell viper venom (RVV), representing a historical journey from the bedside to the bench and back to the bedside. 14 Named after Dr. Patrick Russell, the venom represented a clinical challenge for managing patients who experienced snake bite. The venom entered a new chapter when it started to be used to investigate hemostasis in research laboratories, culminating in current use in a variety of laboratory assays—most notable, the dilute RVV time, 15 16 17 as used to investigate lupus anticoagulant, but also within the activated protein C resistance landscape.…”