Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;29(1):251-254.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.08.081. Epub 2021 Aug 29.

The frequencies of Kidd blood group antigens and phenotypes among Saudi blood donors in Southwestern Saudi Arabia

Amr J Halawani  1   2 , Muhammad Saboor  3   4 , Hisham I Abu-Tawil  5   6 , Ali Y Alhazmy  5 , Waleed Q Mashlawi  5 , Farkad Bantun  2   7 , Abdullah S Mansor  2   3
Affiliations

The frequencies of Kidd blood group antigens and phenotypes among Saudi blood donors in Southwestern Saudi Arabia

Amr J Halawani et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Background: The patients who require transfusion are prevalent in the Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it is essential to know the frequency of blood group antigens in such a population. The Kidd blood group system (JK) has two antithetical antigens, Jka and Jkb. Antibodies to these antigens may result in delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions. The present study investigated the frequencies of Jka and Jkb and the phenotypes among Saudi blood donors living in the Jazan Province.

Methods: One hundred and forty-three samples from anonymous Saudi volunteer blood donors in the Jazan Province were serotype to detect Jka and Jkb using gel card technology and determine the phenotypes of the JK blood group system.

Results: The prevalence of Jka and Jkb antigens were 90.64% (n = 126) and 69.40% (n = 93), respectively. The JK phenotypes were 34.96% Jk(a + b - ) (n = 51), 12.59% Jk(a - b + ) (n = 18), 52.45% Jk(a + b + ) (n = 75), and 0% Jk(a - b - ). The frequencies of the JK phenotypes in the Jazan population were significantly different from those in the Asian population (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: We reported the frequencies of the Jka and Jkb antigens and the distribution of the JK phenotypes in a group of Saudi blood donors in the Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia. The phenotype Jk(a + b + ) was the most common among the study population. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the significance of identifying the frequency of JK antigens and phenotypes in the provinces of Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Blood donors; HDFN, Hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn; HTR, Hemolytic transfusion reactions; Immunohematology; Kidd blood group; RBC, Red blood cell; SNP, Single nucleotide polymorphism; Saudi Arabia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

    1. Alhamdan N.A., Almazrou Y.Y., Alswaidi F.M., Choudhry A.J. Premarital screening for thalassemia and sickle cell disease in Saudi Arabia. Genet. Med. 2007;9:372–377. doi: 10.1097/gim.0b013e318065a9e8. PubMed: 17575503. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen, F.H., Diamond, L.K., Niedziela, B. 1951. A new blood-group antigen. Nature 167, 482. https://doi.org/10.1038/167482b0. - PubMed
    1. Alsaeed E.S., Farhat G.N., Assiri A.M., Memish Z., Ahmed E.M., Saeedi M.Y., Al-Dossary M.F., Bashawri H. Distribution of hemoglobinopathy disorders in Saudi Arabia based on data from the premarital screening and genetic counseling program, 2011–2015. J. Epidemiol. Glob. Health. 2018;7(Suppl. 1):S41–S47. doi: 10.1016/j.jegh.2017.12.001. PubMed: 29801592. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Castro O., Sandler S.G., Houston-Yu P., Rana S. Predicting the effect of transfusing only phenotype-matched RBCs to patients with sickle cell disease: theoretical and practical implications. Transfusion. 2002;42:684–690. doi: 10.1046/j.1537-2995.2002.00126.x. PubMed: 12147019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Edwards-Moulds J., Kasschau M.R. Methods for the detection of Jk heterozygotes: interpretations and applications. Transfusion. 1988;28:545–548. doi: 10.1046/j.1537-2995.1988.28689059028.x. PubMed: 3194929. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources