  We study the interplay between electron-electron interaction and Rashba
spin-orbit coupling in the two-dimensional electron gas. Using the random phase
approximation we predict new screening properties of the electron gas which
result in extension of the region of particle-hole excitations and in
spin-orbit induced suppression of collective modes. In particular, we observe
that the spin-orbit coupling gives a finite lifetime to plasmons and
longitudinal optical phonons, which can be resolved in inelastic Raman
scattering. We evaluate the experimentally measurable dynamic structure factor
and estimate the range of parameters where the described phenomena are mostly
pronounced.
