Frequency of Kell and Rh Alloantibodies in Iranian Thalassemia Patients in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran

 Thalassemia is an inherited disease with anemia and hemolysis. Blood transfusion is a routine treatment for thalassemia patients; alloimmunization is one of the complications of blood transfusion, which is very serious for these patients, especially girls and young women.   

  Four hundred forty-six thalassemia patients were examined in this cross-sectional study. Demographic information of patients was extracted and recorded. The phenotype of ABO, Rh, and Kell antigens (tube method) with antisera from IMMUNDIANOSTICA Company (Germany) and the frequency of alloantibodies were determined.

55.8% of the studied individuals were male and 44.2% were female. The mean age of the studied patients was 19.94±10.63.  The alloantibodies were detected in 7.5% of pack cell receivers. The most prevalent phenotype of the ABO system was the O blood group (37.4%), and the most abundant antigen of the Rh group was ‘e’, which was found in 99.8% of the studied population. The most frequently detected alloantibody was Anti K (38.2%); concerning kell phenotype, (K_k+) and (K+k+) were found in 99.3% and 0.7% of patients, respectively. The frequency of Anti-D, Anti-C, Anti-c, and Anti-E was 23.5%, 14.7%, 2.9%, and 14.7%, respectively.

According to the results of this paper, finding the compatible pack cells in terms of Kell and Rh systems antigens in addition to the ABO blood group is recommended to decrease the rate of alloantibodies in thalassemia patients.