RIGI and autoimmune disease: Also known as retinoic-acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I). A 925-residue cytoplasmic viral RNA receptor, also a member of the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) family, is an essential intracellular sensor for several viruses that elicits antiviral IFN responses by recognizing viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), whose persistent abnormal activation can cause autoimmune diseases (38).