Proteinases are essential drivers of allergic airway disease and innate antifungal immunity in part through their ability cleave the clotting factor fibrinogen (FBG) into fibrinogen cleavage products (FCPs) that signal through Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). However, the mechanism by which FCPs engage TLR4 remains unknown. Here, we show that the proteinases from Aspergillus melleus (PAM) and other allergenic organisms rapidly hydrolyze FBG to yield relatively few FCPs that drive distinct antifungal mechanisms through TLR4. Functional FCPs, termed cryptokines, were characterized by rapid loss of the FBG α chain with substantial preservation of the β and γ chains, including a γ chain sequence (Fibγ390-396) that binds the integrin Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18). PAM-derived cryptokines could be generated from multiple FBG domains, and the ability of cryptokines to induce fungistasis in vitro and innate allergic airway disease in vivo strongly depended on both Mac-1 and the Mac-1-binding domain of FBG (Fibγ390-396). Our findings illustrate the essential concept of proteinase-activated immune responses and for the first time link Mac-1, cryptokines, and TLR4 to innate antifungal immunity and allergic airway disease.
Keywords: Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4); allergy; fibrinogen; fungi; innate immunity; integrin; proteinase.