Exposure to rare earth elements and single nucleotide substitutions as risk factors for early vascular aging in workers employed at titanium-magnesium production

Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the importance and insufficient study of the health risks of exposure to rare earth elements (REE) and the likelihood of REE triggering immunogenetic mechanisms of vascular aging.

Materials and methods. The observation group included fifty three employees of the main production who were exposed to REE. Workplace air was found to contain lanthanum, 0.00028–0.0039 mg/m³; praseodymium, 0.000044–0.00070 mg/m³, terbium, <0.000007 mg/m³; yttrium, <0.00001 mg/m³. The reference group consisted of 64 administrative workers who did not come into contact with REE. The study involved using the allergosorbent test, flow cytometry, ELISA, and PCR. Statistical data analysis was performed with Statistica 10.0. Data analysis included the Student’s t-test, R², RR, OR, and 95% CI; the significance of intergroup differences was taken at p<0.05.

Results. In the observation group, elevated REE levels detected in the workers’ blood (1.46–1.87 times; p<0.05), was associated with an increase in CD277⁺-lymphocyte expression (R²=0.53–0.89; p<0.05) and higher OR of IgG hyperproduction to lanthanides and TNF-α (OR=2.38–7.71). Significant differences were found in the polymorphism of the AGT Thr174Met (CT; OR=2.96, CI=1.33–6.59) and ApoE Cys130Arg (TC; OR=9.07, CI=1.93–42.67) genes.

Limitations. Limited sampling of the main group of workers; limited number of modern reports concerning the assessment of immune mechanisms of vascular aging associated with exposure to REE.

Conclusion. Exposure to REE in main production workers is accompanied by increased levels of butyrophilin, lanthanide IgG, and an increased relative risk of developing disorders associated with single-nucleotide polymorphism of angiotensinogen and apolipoprotein vascular aging genes (RR=2.07–7.25). The identified immunological and genetic indicators can be recommended for early diagnosis and prevention of work-related diseases involving implementation of immunological pathways of early vascular aging under exposure to REE.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was conducted in accordance with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol and design were approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies on March 13, 2024 (Protocol No. 2).

Contribution:
Zaitseva N.V. – study concept and design;
Chelakova Yu.A. – data collection and analysis, writing and editing the text; study concept and design;
Dolgikh O.V. – editing the text.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: February 25, 2026 / Revised: April 16, 2026 / Accepted: May 20, 2026 / Published: June 18, 2026

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