Rudolf Virchow Center, DFG Research Center for Experimental Biomedicine, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
Trends Mol Med. 2011 Nov;17(11):634-40. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2011.06.006. Epub 2011 Jul 23.
Autoimmunity cannot yet be prevented or cured, in large part due to our poor understanding of disease etiology. Remarkable advances in genomic technology have recently enabled the discovery of a large number of disease-associated gene variations by genome-wide association studies. The next step towards understanding autoimmune disorders entails the functional study of susceptibility genes within experimental disease models. RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising tool for such investigations. Several features of RNAi, including its specificity, versatility and reversible nature, allow experimental systems to be tailored to relevant gene variations. This review discusses how the experimental use of RNAi is invaluable in bridging the gap between the identification of susceptibility genes and the elucidation of their functional contribution to autoimmune disease.
自身免疫性疾病目前仍然无法预防或治愈，这在很大程度上是因为我们对疾病的发病机制了解甚少。基因组技术的显著进步最近使得通过全基因组关联研究发现了大量与疾病相关的基因变异。在理解自身免疫性疾病方面，下一步需要在实验性疾病模型中对易感基因进行功能研究。RNA 干扰（RNAi）是进行此类研究的一种很有前途的工具。RNAi 的几个特点，包括其特异性、多功能性和可逆性，使得实验系统能够针对相关基因变异进行定制。本文综述了 RNAi 的实验应用如何在鉴定易感基因与阐明其对自身免疫性疾病的功能贡献之间的差距方面具有不可估量的价值。
