The pharmacology and therapeutics of vitamin K

Much has been learned in the past 10 years about the mechanism of action of coumarin anticoagulants and the role of vitamin K in the production of functional clotting factors. This paper reviews the mechanism for post-ribosomal modification of precursor proteins into functional clotting factors, the therapeutic uses of vitamin K, pharmacologic and therapeutic uses of vitamin K antagonists, and the current means of testing for vitamin K antagonism. In addition, information concerning newly discovered vitamin K-dependent proteins in other tissues and pathologic processing is discussed.