Expression of RHD and RHCE gene products using retroviral transduction of K562 cells establishes the molecular basis of Rh blood group antigens.

Retroviral-mediated gene transfer using cDNA transcripts of the RHD and RHCE genes resulted in the isolation of K562 clones expressing D and G or c and E antigens, respectively. These results represent the first direct demonstration that the RHD gene encodes the D and G antigens and the RHCE gene encodes the c and E antigens. Both c and E antigens were expressed after transduction of K562 cells with a single cDNA, indicating that the c antigen does not arise by alternative splicing (exon skipping) of the product of the RHCE gene, as has been suggested.