Effects of willow and Sedum alfredii Hance planting patterns on phytoremediation efficiency under AC electric field

Heavy metal contamination to soil is tricky due to its difficult removal, long retention time, and biomagnified toxicity. The green and low-cost phytoremediation with electric field treatment and planting pattern selection is an emerging and more effective approach to remove heavy metals from soils. In this study, alternating current (AC) electric field-assisted phytoremediation was examined with different planting patterns, i.e., monoculture willow (Salix sp.), monoculture Sedum alfredii Hance, and interplanting of willow and S. alfredii. AC electric field greatly increased phytoremediation efficiency to soil cadmium (Cd) regardless of planting patterns, either single plant species of willow or S. alfredii. The Cd removal capacity of willow and S. alfredii raises apparently under 0.5 V cm-1 AC electric field. Under different planting patterns of AC electric field treatment, Cd accumulation in the whole plant by interplanting was 5.63 times higher than monoculture willow, but only 0.75 times as high as monoculture S. alfredii. The results showed that AC electric field-assisted interplanting of willow and S. alfredii is a promising remediation technique for efficiently clean-up Cd-contaminated soil.

CD38-Specific CAR Integrated into CD38 Locus Driven by Different Promoters Causes Distinct Antitumor Activities of T and NK Cells

The robust and stable expression of CD38 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) blasts makes CD38 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T/natural killer (NK) a potential therapy for T-ALL. However, CD38 expression in normal T/NK cells causes fratricide of CD38 CAR-T/NK cells. Here a "2-in-1" gene editing strategy is developed to generate fratricide-resistant locus-specific CAR-T/NK cells. CD38-specific CAR is integrated into the disrupted CD38 locus by CRISPR/Cas9, and CAR is placed under the control of either endogenous CD38 promoter (CD38KO/KI ) or exogenous EF1α promoter (CD38KO/KI EF1α). CD38 knockout reduces fratricide and allows the expansion of CAR-T cells. Meanwhile, CD38KO/KI EF1α results in higher CAR expression than CD38KO/KI in both CAR-T and CAR-NK cells. In a mouse T-ALL model, CD38KO/KI EF1α CAR-T cells eradicate tumors better than CD38KO/KI CAR-T cells. Surprisingly, CD38KO/KI CAR-NK cells show superior tumor control than CD38KO/KI EF1α CAR-NK cells. Further investigation reveals that endogenous regulatory elements in NK cells lead to higher expression of CD38 CAR than in T cells, and the expression levels of CAR affect the therapeutic outcome of CAR-T and CAR-NK cells differently. Therefore, these results support the efficacy of CD38 CAR-T/NK against T-ALL and demonstrate that the "2-in-1" strategy can resolve fratricide and enhance tumor eradication, paving the way for clinical translation.