Kell and Kidd Blood Group Systems
This chapter discusses the Kell and Kidd systems of blood group. The Kell and Kidd blood group systems antigens are carried on red blood cells (RBC) membrane glycoproteins. Antibodies to the Kell and Kidd blood group antigens can cause hemolytic transfusion reactions and hemolytic diseases of the fetus and newborn and therefore they are clinically significant. The Kell blood group system contains more than 25 antigens and the main antigens are known as K (K1) and k (K2) and a variety of nucleotide mutations that cause single amino acid substitutions in the K protein give rise to the majority of the Kell antigens. The Kell blood group system phenotypes and prevalence and Kidd blood group system phenotypes and prevalence are illustrated by tables. The Kidd blood group system has two antigens namely Jka and Jkb and these antigens result from a single amino acid substitution leading to three common phenotypes. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
