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Conventional therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often fail to eliminate the disease-initiating leukemia stem cell (LSC) population, leading to disease relapse. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is a known inflammatory cytokine that promotes antitumor responses. Here, we found that low serum IFN-γ levels correlated with a higher percentage of LSCs and greater relapse incidence in AML patients. Furthermore, IFNGR1 was overexpressed in relapsed patients with AML and associated with a poor prognosis. We showed that high doses (5–10 μg/day) of IFN-γ exerted an anti-AML effect, while low doses (0.01–0.05 μg/day) of IFN-γ accelerated AML development and supported LSC self-renewal in patient-derived AML-LSCs and in an LSC-enriched MLL-AF9-driven mouse model. Importantly, targeting the IFN-γ receptor IFNGR1 by using lentiviral shRNAs or neutralizing antibodies induced AML differentiation and delayed leukemogenesis in vitro and in mice. Overall, we uncovered essential roles for IFN-γ and IFNGR1 in AML stemness and showed that targeting IFNGR1 is a strategy to decrease stemness and increase differentiation in relapsed AML patients.

Ion conductive hydrogels (ICHs) have attracted great interest in the application of ionic skin because of their superior characteristics. However, it remains a challenge for ICHs to achieve balanced properties of high strength, large fracture strain, self-healing and freezing tolerance. In this study, a strong, stretchable, self-healing and antifreezing ICH was demonstrated by rationally designing a multiphysically cross-linked network structure consisting of the hydrophobic association, metal-ion coordination and chain entanglement among poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) polymer chains. The deliberately designed Brij S 100 acrylate (Brij-100A) micelle cross-linker can effectively dissipate energy and endow hydrogels with desirable stretchability. The self-healing ability of hydrogels originates from the reversible hydrophobic association in micelles and Fe3+-COO–coordination. After the addition of NaCl, the chain-entangled physical network caused by the salting-out effect can both enhance mechanical strength and promote electron transport. With the synergy of hydrophobic association, mental-ligand coordination and chain entanglement, the PAA/Brij-100A/Fe3+/NaCl (PAA/BA/Fe3+/NaCl) hydrogels exhibited a high tensile strain of 1140%, a tensile strength of 0.93 MPa and a toughness of 3.48 MJ m–3. Besides, the PAA/BA/Fe3+/NaCl hydrogels exhibited a high conductivity of 0.43 S m–1and good freezing resistance. The ionic skin based on the PAA/BA/Fe3+/NaCl hydrogels showed high sensitivity (GF = 5.29), wide strain range (0–950%), fast response time (220 ms) and good stability. Also, the self-healing ability of the ionic skin can significantly prolong its service time, and the antifreezing property can broaden its applicable temperature. This study offers new insight into the design of multifunctional ionic skin for wearable electronics.

On watershed scale, the reservoir dam has a significant regulating effect on runoff and sediment. Once the runoff enters the reservoir area, the sediment will be gradually deposited because of the lower flow velocity of runoff and the blocking effect of the dam. On microscale, soil surface depressions also can intercept runoff and promote sedimentation distinctly. In order to comparative study whether there was a high degree of correlation or consistency between these two sediment retention mechanisms, the sediment retention effect of reservoirs on watershed scale and that of soil surface depressions on microscale were comparatively studied and analyzed from the following 5 aspects: water–sediment relationship, double cumulative curve of runoff and sediment, deposition rate, sediment trapping coefficient, and sediment reduction coefficient. The results showed that there was a high correlation of sediment retention effect between reservoirs and soil surface depressions, and their sediment trapping coefficients were 0.113 and 0.097, respectively. In addition, the sediment retention effect was only related to topographic relief, but not to scale. It was feasible to use the sediment retention effect on microscale to predict that of reservoirs on macroscale, and the prediction results were accurate. In addition, with the increase of reservoir size, the annual total amount of sediment deposition showed an increasing trend, while the deposition rate, the error between calculated sedimentation and the measured value, and the sediment reduction coefficient showed a decreasing trend.