The Gale Lab is working with our corporate partners to develop RIG-I targeted RNA and small molecules as host-directed therapeutics to treat and suppress virus infection. These small molecules have been licensed to industry for development as broad spectrum antivirals and are the focus of intense research in the Gale Lab to develop antivirus countermeasures. In addition, a subset of these RIG-I agonist molecules are being developed as anti-cancer agents to suppress cancer growth and induce selective death of tumor cells.
The figure shows RIG-I targeted small molecule that induces the activation of IRF-3 and IRF-3 target genes that suppress virus infection.
KIN 101 induces the expression of discrete innate immune pathways centered on IRF signaling. Bedard et al., 2012
Innate immune signaling induced by RIG-I agonists RNA (RAR) induces the death of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Ulloa et al., 2025