Functional studies of lymphocytes using RNAi technology

RNA interference (RNAi) has become an important gene knockdown technique which has been widely used in recent years. This technique has been extensively employed in studying the genetics, molecular biology and physiology of cancer cells or normal cells. RNAi technology has also been used to explore the biology of the cells involved in the immune response. Among those, lymphocytes have been the most thoroughly studied. RNAi has been used to study lymphocyte development, activation and effector mechanisms. In addition, it has been applied to modify the properties of lymphocytes to influence the outcomes of immune responses and to create opportunities for potential therapeutic applications in vivo. While the application of RNAi technology to influence immune responses in vivo is quite promising, significant obstacles, such as in vivo delivery, nonspecific immune responses and 'off-target effects', need to be overcome before this technology can be successfully translated for clinical application. In this review, we have summarized the current use of RNAi in the study of lymphocyte biology and the potential clinical translations associated with this technique.