The apparent anti-exhaustion role of the anti-TERT Th1 response is in agreement with findings in mice, showing that CD4+ helper T cells protect CD8+ T cells from exhaustion by downregulating expressions of the co-inhibitory receptors PD-1, TIM-3 and Lag-3.8 In a recent investigation using deep single-cell RNA sequencing to analyse the T-cell landscape in lung adenocarcinoma, the authors found that a high ratio of pre-exhausted to exhausted PD-1+TIM-3+ T cells was associated with better prognosis. The gene discussed is HAVCR2; the disease is lung adenocarcinoma.