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Glite Dictionary
factor VIII

factor VIII

5.5
A protein in blood that helps form clots to stop bleeding
  • noun
  • /ˈfæktər eɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : factor VIII
  • Patients with hemophilia A often require factor VIII infusions to help prevent excessive bleeding.
  • a batch of factor VIII

Examples

  • In 1984, 18 of these patients became infected with HIV-1 from contaminated factor VIII.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The introduction of heat-treated factor VIII from early 1985 may have had some bearing on these changes.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Although we have previously reported (n1) that factor VIII requirements throughout 1984 were significantly higher for the seropositive than for the seronegative patients, this difference was not detectable before infection.

    Academic text (1992)

  • A detectable specific IgM response to primary infection with HIV developed in 10 of the 13 haemophiliacs known to have been infected with the same virus variant from the contaminated batch of factor VIII (Fig. 2).

    Academic text (1992)

  • The 18 HIV-infected patients are a subgroup of 32 previously HIV-seronegative hemophiliacs from Edinburgh exposed in 1984 to a batch of factor VIII contaminated with infectious HIV-1.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Factor VIII is crucial for proper blood clotting, and a deficiency can lead to hemophilia A.

  • A recent study indicated that patients lacking sufficient factor VIII may experience more frequent bleeding episodes.

Synonyms

antihemophilic factor
vsfactor VIII
  • Specialized
7.1

A blood protein that helps blood clot and whose lack causes hemophilia A

is the term referring to that identical blood protein
antihemophilic globulin
vsfactor VIII
  • Specialized
9.9

A blood protein that helps blood clot and whose lack causes long bleeding after injury

is the same protein but expressed with a different medical name

Surface Forms

factor VIII singular
factors VIII plural

Morphology

factor + VIII

The form 'factor VIII' transparently reads as 'factor number eight' from 'factor' + Roman numeral 'VIII', so a learner might infer it denotes the eighth item in a series. However, the specific biomedical sense (a clotting protein whose deficiency causes hemophilia A) is technical and not predictable from the constituents alone (and many B1 learners may not reliably interpret Roman numerals), so full meaning is not derivable.

Etymology

Factor VIII comes from early blood research when scientists called important blood proteins factor and numbered them, and VIII is the Roman numeral for 'eight'. So factor VIII is the specific blood protein (the eighth factor) needed for 'clotting', and not having enough of it causes hemophilia A.