The role of long noncoding RNAs in human T CD3+ cells

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory RNA molecules that are involved in various biological processes. In the immune system, the lncRNAs play important roles in development, differentiation, survival, cell fate determination, proliferation and activation of immune cells. Lymphocytes are the main players of the adaptive immunity and CD3+ T cells acts as a master regulator for the immune responses. These cells following activation by antigens and co-stimulatory signals are differentiated into various effector T cell subsets, including CD4 and CD8 T cells. These heterogeneous populations can be distinguished based on molecular surface markers and subsets of these markers can be used to denote various stages of T lymphocyte differentiation, notwithstanding the CD3+ T cells phenotypes are markedly influenced by lncRNAs. In the present review, we summarize recent research on the role of long noncoding RNAs in subtypes of CD4+ and CD8+ human T cells.