In vivo functional testing of lncRNAs remains challenging but is critical to understanding their relevance in the immune system.
(A) Cell-type specific lncRNA expression profiles can be generated from RNA-seq on purified cell populations or publicly available datasets.
(B) The functional relevance of these loci encoding these lncRNAs can be quickly and easily assessed by generating genomic deletions using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.
(C) RNA dependence of functional lncRNA loci can be assessed using shRNAs and ASOs.
(D) Transcriptional dependence can be determined by insertion of a premature poly-A cassette using CRISPR/Cas9.