Itk promotes the integration of TCR and CD28 costimulation, through its direct substrates, SLP-76 and Gads

The costimulatory receptor, CD28, synergizes with the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) to promote IL-2 production, cell survival and proliferation. Despite their profound synergy, the obligatory interdependence of the signaling pathways initiated by these two receptors is not well understood. Upon TCR stimulation, Gads, a Grb2-family adaptor, bridges the interaction of two additional adaptors, LAT and SLP-76, to form a TCR-induced effector signaling complex. SLP-76 binds the Tec-family tyrosine kinase, Itk, which phosphorylates SLP-76 at Y173 and PLC-γ1 at Y783. Here we identified Gads Y45 as an additional TCR-inducible, Itk-mediated phosphorylation site. Y45 is found within the N-terminal SH3 domain of Gads, an evolutionarily conserved domain with no known binding partners or signaling function. Gads Y45 phosphorylation depended on the interaction of Gads with SLP-76 and on the preferentially-paired binding of Gads to phospho-LAT. Three Itk-related features, Gads Y45, SLP-76 Y173, and a proline-rich Itk SH3-binding motif on SLP-76, were selectively required for activation of the CD28 RE/AP transcriptional element from the IL-2 promoter, but were not required to activate NFAT. This study illuminates a new regulatory module, in which Itk-targeted phosphorylation sites on two adaptor proteins, SLP-76 and Gads, control the transcriptional response to TCR/CD28 costimulation, thus enforcing the obligatory interdependence of the TCR and CD28 signaling pathways.