Antiviral Inflammasomes and How to Find Them

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.