Kell Isoantigen

Kell is an antigen located on the surface of erythrocytes (membrane protein), the presence of which makes it possible to detect group “K” antisera. Currently (2012) more than 340 different antisera of this group are known in the world, which are found in human blood. This is a fairly rare hereditary anomaly of the antigenic structure of the erythrocyte membrane, so there are not very many people with Kell antigens and K system antiserum in human populations. So, in Switzerland it does not exceed 1%, in the USA - about 4.5%, and among the black population there is a fairly high frequency of Kell-positive individuals; they probably have a higher level of mutations. In addition, blood from many carriers of the K antigen can also cause alloimmunization in Rh-negative pregnant women, and in order to avoid hemolytic disease of the newborn, transfusion therapy with intravascular iso-hemolytic red blood cells is recommended to such mothers during pregnancy. Kell antigen, associated with a high risk of hemolytic complications in newborns, is determined by maternal red blood cells 36–48 hours after the 9th month of pregnancy. Diagnosis of ABO, D and Rhc(RhD) antigens is carried out: - _by blood._ The presence of ABO antigen is indicated by a positive test result, expressed in some cases as weakly positive, in the presence of high titers of antiglobulin complement or high titre of hapten, that is, when trying to transfuse isohemagglutinating serums to all people with a positive reaction to antiglo