Vox Sang. 17: 221-223 (1969)

The Inheritance of the KeII Blood Groups in a Caucasian Population Sample1

MARION LEWIS; H. KAITA and B. CHOWN Department of Paediatrics, University of Manitoba and Rh Laboratory, Winnipeg,

Man.

In 1963 we published Kell blood group frequencies for 1277 un- related adult Caucasians living in Manitoba whose red cells had been tested with anti-K(Nash), anti-k(D/16), anti-Kpa(McM) and anti- Kpb(Raut/4) by the papain capillary method [CHOWN et al., 11. The present report deals with the frequency and inheritance of the Kell genes in another sample drawn from the same population: 900 un- related couples and their 2599 children. For this study the same sera and methods were employed as those in the 1963 study save that the anti-Kpb(Raut/4) was used by the capillary indirect Coombs method.

Ascertainment. The ascertainment for the first 700 of the present 900 families has been given [CHOWN et al., 21; the frequency distribu- tion of the different categories in the remaining 200 is approximately the same as for the 700: there are now 322 families with one child or more with mongolism. It might be thought that inclusion of these 322 families would distort our figures, because EVANS et al. [3] found ‘a significant excess of Kell-positive mongols’ in a sample made up of 82 mongol-sib pairs and their parents a t Liverpool, England and 82 mongol-sib pairs at Buffalo, New York. However, EVANS et al. [4] have re-examined this question using 257 of our 322 families and 190 English families: in this sample there was no excess of Kell positive mongols. There is therefore no evident reason why these 322 families should not be considered as ‘random’ for the purpose of the present study.

1 Supported by grants from the National Foundation, USPH Service Research Grant IID 00527 and Medical Research Council (Canada).

222 LEWIS, KAITA, CHOWN The Inheritance of the Kell Blood Groups

Table I . Kell types of the 1800 parents

Reaction Type Observed Expected Gene K k Kpa Kpb Number Frequency Frequency Number frequencies

+ - - + K 2 0.0011 0.0017 3.06 + + - + Kkb 144 0.0800 0.0786 141.48 + + + + Kka 1 0.0005 0.0007 1.26 K 0.04135 - + + + kakb 30 0.0167 0.0163 29.34 ka 0.00860 - + + - k a 0 0.0000 0.0001 0.18 kb 0.95005 - + - + k ” 1623 0.9017 0.9026 1624.68

1800 1.0000 1.0000 1800.00 1.00000 0.65, n 4, p 0.95

Table I I . Inheritance of Kell types in 900 families

Mating Children Type X a Total K K Kka Kkb kaka kakb kbkb

K K x kbkb

Kkb x Kkb

Kka x kbkb

Kkb x kakb

Kkb x kbkb

kakb x kbkb

kbkb x kbkb

14 other

2 2.79 1 5.58 1 1.17 3 2.25

139 127.71 27 26.46

727 733.23

0 0.81

0.22

3.76

0.02

0.25

1.00

0.01

0.05

0.81

7

4 0 1

3

8

414

71

2092

7 7 2 2 2 1.5

1 1 2 2

206 207

2 1

1 1.5 3 3 2 2

208 207

40 31 35,s 35.5

2092 2092

Total 900 6.12 2599 n = 7 p 0.5

The expected are shown in italics.

in a Caucasian Population Sample 223

Results

The distribution of the Kell types in the 1800 unrelated parents in the present series is set out in table I. The sample is internally consistent and while the frequencies for both K and kit are lower than those in our earlier study (K0.0497, ka 0.01255) two by two com- parisons indicate that differences in the two series are not significant (p. approximately 0.1 in each case).

The mating types of the 1800 parents and the distribution of the Kell types in their children are set out in table 11. The types are shown as genotypes on the assumption of the absence of the rare gene KO. The results are in agreement with expectation.

Acknowledgement

We are much indebted to Dr. FRED H. ALLEN, Jr. and Dr. ANCELYN KONUCRES for keeping us supplied with the anti-Kpb (Raut) serum.

References

1. CHOWN, B.; LEWIS, M.; KAITA, H. and PHILIPPS, S.: Some blood group fre- quencies in a Caucasian population. Vox Sang. 8: 378 (1963).

2. CHOWN, B.; LEWIS, M. and KAITA, H.: The inheritance of the MNSs blood groups in a Caucasian population sample. Amer. J. hum. Genet. 19: 86 (1967).

3. EVANS, D. A. P.; DONOHOE, W. T. A.; BANNERMAN, R. M.; MOHN, J. F. and LAMBERT, R. M. : Blood-group gene localization through a study of mongolism. Ann. hum. Genet. 30: 49 (1966).

4. EVANS, D. A. P.; WREN, P. J. J.; DONOHOE, W. T. A.; BULLEN, M. F.; LEWIS, M.; KAITA, H.; CHOWN, B. and UCHIDA, I.: Further observations on Kell blood groups in families ascertained via a mongo1 propositus. J. med. Genet. 5: 310 (1968).

Authors’ address: MARION LEWIS, HIROKO KAITA and Dr. BRUCE CHOWN, Rh Lab- oratory, 735 Notre Dame Ave., Winnipeg 3, Man. (Canada).