Kell blood group glycoprotein

KEL
Identifiers
Aliases	KEL, Kell Blood Group, CD238, Kell metallo-endopeptidase (Kell blood group), Kell Blood Group Glycoprotein, Kell blood group, metallo-endopeptidase, Kell Blood Group Antigen, EC 3.4.24, Kell Blood Group, Metalloendopeptidase, Kell, ECE3, Kell–Cellano system
External IDs	OMIM: 613883; MGI: 1346053; GeneCards: KEL
Gene location (Human)
Chr.	Chromosome 7 (human)
End	142,962,363 bp
Gene location (Mouse)
Chr.	Chromosome 6 (mouse)
End	41,681,273 bp
RNA expression pattern
	Top expressed in
	right testis; ; left testis; ; bone marrow; ; bone marrow cell; ; C1 segment; ; lymph node; ; corpus callosum; ; testicle; ; blood; ; spleen;
	Top expressed in
	fetal liver hematopoietic progenitor cell; ; tibiofemoral joint; ; human fetus; ; spleen; ; blood; ; yolk sac; ; genital tubercle; ; endocardial cushion; ; embryo; ; body of femur;
	More reference expression data
	n/a
Gene ontology
Molecular function	metalloendopeptidase activity; peptidase activity; protein binding; metallopeptidase activity; hydrolase activity; metal ion binding;
Cellular component	integral component of membrane; plasma membrane; membrane;
Biological process	regulation of cell size; negative regulation of potassium ion transmembrane transport; myelination; regulation of axon diameter; cellular magnesium ion homeostasis; cellular calcium ion homeostasis; skeletal muscle fiber development; vasoconstriction; proteolysis;
	Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs
Databases	NCBI: entry; OMA: entry
	3792
	23925
	ENSG00000276615; ENSG00000197993
	ENSMUSG00000029866
	P23276
	Q9EQF2
	NM_000420
	NM_032540
	NP_000411
	NP_115929
	Wikidata
View/Edit Human	View/Edit Mouse

The Kell blood group glycoprotein also known as CD238 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the KEL gene.^[5]

The Kell glycoprotein is a 732-amino-acid, single-pass, glycosylated protein that is expressed in the plasma membrane of red blood cells.^[5] It is covalently attached via a disulfide bond to the multipass XK protein.^[5] The KEL gene is highly polymorphic and forms the basis of the Kell antigen system.^[5] It is responsible for cleaving an inactive endothelin-3 precursor to its active form. The Kell–XK complex is also associated with red blood cell membrane integrity.^[5]^[6]

The Kell protein is clinically important since it strongly immunogenic and can cause life threatening red blood transfusion reactions.^[5] In addition, Kell alloimmunization is caused by a direct maternal immune response to fetal KELL antigens or through a prior antigen-positive pregnancy or transfusion.^[5]^[6]

References

1 2 3 ENSG00000197993 GRCh38: Ensembl release 89: ENSG00000276615, ENSG00000197993 – Ensembl, May 2017
1 2 3 GRCm38: Ensembl release 89: ENSMUSG00000029866 – Ensembl, May 2017
↑ "Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
↑ "Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dean L (2005). "The Kell blood group". Blood Groups and Red Cell Antigens. Bethesda, Maryland: National Center for Biotechnology Information (US). Retrieved 2026-08-07.
1 2 Davison CL, Denomme GA (September 2025). "Kell and Kx blood group systems: an update". Immunohematology. 41 (3): 90–99. doi:10.2478/immunohematology-2025-014. PMID 41168991.

[refGRCh38Ensembl-1] 1 2 3 ENSG00000197993 GRCh38: Ensembl release 89: ENSG00000276615, ENSG00000197993 – Ensembl, May 2017

[refGRCm38Ensembl-2] 1 2 3 GRCm38: Ensembl release 89: ENSMUSG00000029866 – Ensembl, May 2017

[3] "Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

[4] "Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

[Dean_2005-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dean L (2005). "The Kell blood group". Blood Groups and Red Cell Antigens. Bethesda, Maryland: National Center for Biotechnology Information (US). Retrieved 2026-08-07.

[Davison_2025-6] 1 2 Davison CL, Denomme GA (September 2025). "Kell and Kx blood group systems: an update". Immunohematology. 41 (3): 90–99. doi:10.2478/immunohematology-2025-014. PMID 41168991.

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[6]

Proteins: clusters of differentiation (see also list of human clusters of differentiation)
1–50	1 a-c 1A 1B 1D 1E 2 3 γ δ ε 4 5 6 7 8 a 9 10 11 a b c d 13 14 15 16 A B 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 A B 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 a b c d 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 a b c d e f 50
51–100	51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 61 62 E L P 63 64 A B C 66 a b c d e f 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 78 79 a b 80 81 82 83 84 85 a d e h j k 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
101–150	101 102 103 104 105 106 107 a b 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 a b 121 a b 122 123 124 125 126 127 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 140b 141 142 143 144 146 147 148 150
151–200	151 152 153 154 155 156 a b c 157 158 (a d e i k) 159 a c 160 161 162 163 164 166 167 a b 168 169 170 171 172 a b g 174 177 178 179 a b 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 w198 w199 200
201–250	201 202b 204 205 206 207 208 209 w210 a b 212 213a 1 2 217 218 (a b) 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 233 234 235 a b 236 238 239 240CE 240D 241 243 244 246 247 248 249
251–300	252 253 254 256 257 258 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 271 272 273 274 275 276 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 286 288 289 290 292 w293 294 295 297 298 299
301–350	300A 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 309 312 314 315 316 317 318 320 321 322 324 325 326 327 328 329 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 344 349 350
351–371	351 352 353 354 355 357 358 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371
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