Evaluation and Frequency of Kell Erythrocyte Antigen in Blood Donors of Regional Blood Center of Passo Fundo, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this research was verify the frequency of erythrocyte antigen K1 in the population of donors who had their blood phenotyped at Regional Blood Center of Passo Fundo (RS). This descriptive study of documental approach was conduct through retrospective evaluation of record spreadsheets for all donors phenotyped during the period of July 2010 to June 2015. An absolute verification was done, comparing the number of donors without the expressed antigen KELL and the number of donors who had this antigen on the erythrocyte membrane. From 1,163 phenotyped donors, 80 (7%) showed antigen expression in the erythrocyte membrane, being lower number than reported in the literature. Despite the percentage found for the K1 expression be lower than is described by other authors, the antigen must be identified because its immunogenicity has great clinical relevance and may result in transfusion complications.