# Antiviral Inflammasomes and How to Find Them

## TL;DR

This review explains how inflammasomes, part of the immune system, detect and respond to viral infections and outlines criteria to identify virus-triggered inflammasomes.

## Contribution

The paper introduces minimal criteria to prove virus-triggered inflammasome assembly and classifies common antiviral activation pathways.

## Key findings

- Inflammasomes detect viral infections through unusual molecular patterns or host cell damage.
- Viral evasion mechanisms highlight the importance of inflammasomes in controlling infections.
- Criteria for virus-induced inflammasome assembly are proposed to guide future research.

## Abstract

Inflammasomes are signaling complexes of the innate immune system that are assembled in distinct sentinel cell types to coordinate inflammation. As demonstrated by the emergence of viral antagonists and evasion mechanisms, inflammasomes are critical to contain viral infections. As virions are entirely composed of host cell-derived molecules, infection is either recognized by molecules or modifications exposed in unusual compartments, or by activities and host cell damage indicative of virus replication. Rather than enumerating all viruses that activate inflammasomes, this review classifies common pathways or signatures that activate antiviral inflammasomes. We define a set of minimal criteria that we think is critical to prove virus-triggered inflammasome assembly. We further discuss the consequences of virus-induced inflammasome assembly and define relevant open questions in the field.