Themis dominates T cell exhaustion by regulation of TCR and PD-1 signaling

T cell exhaustion is important to protect the host from immunopathology during chronic viral infection, but it also impairs T cell anti-tumor immunity1-5. A fundamental unresolved question is whether and how T cell exhaustion is determined at the onset of TCR signaling6-8. Here we report an unexpected role of Themis, a TCR-proximal signaling molecule9, in T cell exhaustion. Chronic viral infection in mice usually leads to T cell exhaustion and survival of the host. Surprisingly, Themis T-cell conditional knockout mice died from severe CD8+-dependent lung immunopathology in chronic viral infection, showing Themis importance in establishing T cell exhaustion. We found that Themis-deficient CD8+ T cells were hyperactivated at the single-cell level - producing more TNF and IFN{gamma} compared to wild-type counterparts - but defective in population-level expansion. Moreover, TCF-1 and TOX expression were inhibited in Themis-deficient CD8+ T cells, thereby impairing differentiation of exhausted T cell precursors (T-pex) and maintenance of terminally exhausted T cells (T-ex), respectively. Mechanistically, Themis initially promotes TCR signaling to induce PD-1 expression and subsequently mediates PD-1 signaling. In the latter, Themis binds to PD-1 and promotes PD-1 phosphorylation and its recruitment of SHP2, thereby acting as a negative regulator to inhibit T cell effector functions. Without Themis, the orderly regulation of TCR and PD-1 signaling, and therefore exhaustion, is disrupted. Thus, our results unequivocally demonstrate that Themis-mediated early TCR signaling plays a decisive role in T cell exhaustion and provide a novel mechanism of PD-1 signaling through Themis.