INTRODUCTION Kell antigen is highly immunogenic and is the common cause of antibody production in mismatched blood transfusions, haemolytic transfusion reaction (HTR) and maternal alloimmunization, which causes severe anaemia in neonates. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and ethnic variation of the Kell phenotype among pregnant women in Sokoto, Nigeria. METHODS Kell antige...

The Kell blood group protein is a zinc endopeptidase that yields endothelin-3, a potent bioactive peptide, by cleavage of big endothelin-3, a larger intermediate precursor. On red cells, Kell protein is linked by a single disulfide bond to XK, a protein that traverses the membrane 10 times and whose absence, as occurs in the McLeod phenotype, is associated with a set of clinical symptoms that i...

BACKGROUND Red blood cell genes are highly polymorphic with the distribution of alleles varying between different populations and ethnic groups. The objective of this study was to investigate gene polymorphisms of blood groups in the state of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. METHODS Three hundred and seventy-three unrelated blood donors and 31 transfusion-dependent patients were evaluated to ...

BACKGROUND Current estimates of blood group frequencies in Germany were often derived from studies involving less than 12,000 individuals. The frequency of the D category VI was unknown. METHODS ABO. Kell, and Rhesus blood group data of more than 600,000 donors were reviewed. Allele frequencies were derived by the maximum-likelihood method. The frequency of D category VI was determined in mor...

KELL is a member of the M13 family of type II neutral endopeptidases, which functions as a blood group antigen in human and animal populations. KELL amino acid sequences and structures and KEL gene locations were examined using bioinformatic data from several mammalian genome projects. Mammalian KELL sequences shared 55-99% identity, as compared with 21-31% sequence identities with other M13-li...

The erythroleukemic cell line K562 can undergo further differentiation in erythroid or megakaryocytic lineage depending on the nature of the stimulus. Phorbol ester (PMA) stimulates megakaryocytic development whereas hemin promotes erythroid differentiation of these cells. We have examined the effect of PMA and hemin on the expression of the Kell blood group and CD10 antigens, two related prote...

BACKGROUND Red blood group genes are highly polymorphic and the distribution of alleles varies among different populations and ethnic groups. AIM To evaluate allele polymorphisms of the Rh, Kell, Duffy and Kidd blood group systems in a population of the State of Paraná METHODS Rh, Kell, Duffy and Kidd blood group polymorphisms were evaluated in 400 unrelated blood or bone marrow donors from...