THEMIS enhances TCR signaling and enables positive selection by selective inhibition of the phosphatase SHP-1

THEMIS, a T cell-specific protein with high expression in CD4(+)CD8(+) thymocytes, has a crucial role in positive selection and T cell development. THEMIS lacks defined catalytic domains but contains two tandem repeats of a distinctive module of unknown function (CABIT). Here we found that THEMIS directly regulated the catalytic activity of the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1. This action was mediated by the CABIT modules, which bound to the phosphatase domain of SHP-1 and promoted or stabilized oxidation of SHP-1's catalytic cysteine residue, which inhibited the tyrosine-phosphatase activity of SHP-1. Deletion of SHP-1 alleviated the developmental block in Themis(-/-) thymocytes. Thus, THEMIS facilitates thymocyte positive selection by enhancing the T cell antigen receptor signaling response to low-affinity ligands.