Expanding the cytokine receptor alphabet reprograms T cells into diverse states

Abstract

Abstract T cells respond to cytokines through receptor dimers that have been selected over the course of evolution to activate canonical JAK–STAT signalling and gene expression programs1. However, the potential combinatorial diversity of JAK–STAT receptor pairings can be expanded by exploring the untapped biology of alternative non-natural pairings. Here we exploited the common γ chain (γc) receptor as a shared signalling hub on T cells and enforced the expression of both natural and non-natural heterodimeric JAK–STAT receptor pairings using an orthogonal cytokine receptor platform2–4 to expand the γc signalling code. We tested receptors from γc cytokines as well as interferon, IL-10 and homodimeric receptor families that do not normally pair with γc or are not naturally expressed on T cells. These receptors simulated their natural counterparts but also induced contextually unique transcriptional programs. This led to distinct T cell fates in tumours, including myeloid-like T cells with phagocytic capacity driven by orthogonal GSCFR (oGCSFR), and type 2 cytotoxic T (TC2) and helper T (TH2) cell differentiation driven by orthogonal IL-4R (o4R). T cells with orthogonal IL-22R (o22R) and oGCSFR, neither of which are natively expressed on T cells, exhibited stem-like and exhaustion-resistant transcriptional and chromatin landscapes, enhancing anti-tumour properties. Non-native receptor pairings and their resultant JAK–STAT signals open a path to diversifying T cell states beyond those induced by natural cytokines.