Themis directs T cell exhaustion by promoting PD-1 signaling and key transcription factors TCF-1 and TOX expression

We adopted scRNA-seq to examine whether Themis is required for Tex initiation. To strengthen the rigorousness of scRNA-seq analysis, we contransferred P14 WT and P14 Themis cKO cells, enabling them to experience the same viral burden and inflammatory environment. Then cells from all conditions (including naïve control cells) were combined and subjected to analysis. T cells were FACS-sorted from lungs, or spleen of recipient mice which were co-transferred Themisflox/flox-dLck-Cre P14 and WT P14 Naive T cells 8 days after infection with Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus Clone 13 strain, and subjected to single-cell RNA-seq by MARS-Seq protocol.