Expanding the cytokine receptor alphabet reprograms T cells into diverse states.

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 (γ_c) 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 platform^2-4 to expand the γ_c signalling code. We tested receptors from γ_c cytokines as well as interferon, IL-10 and homodimeric receptor families that do not normally pair with γ_c 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 (T_C2) and helper T (T_H2) 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.