## 4 Discussion  
Innate immunity is an immune system that is present in our bodies from birth, regardless of age or history of infection, and consists of molecular recognition, disposal, and communication systems. Innate immunity consists of molecules that recognize and process various types of pathogens, induce inflammatory responses, and interact with adaptive immunity (acquired immunity). Mediators involved in innate immunity are mostly known as cytokines (IL-1, 2, 6, 12, etc.). They do not have the property of directly recognizing or processing externally invading viruses or microbes, but they serve as signaling molecules. These cytokines play an important role in adaptive immunity, and although their functions overlap considerably, they can be largely divided into inflammatory responses, cell differentiation and proliferation, cell migration, inhibitory, and antiviral functions [5]. In this study we evaluated the potential immunomodulating effect of FRB and compared it to a commercially available Korean Red Ginseng Extract (CKJ, Seoul, Republic of Korea) which is currently approved by the Korean Food and Drug Administration to be used as an \"immune-booster\". CKJ ginseng extract is standardized to contain 5.5 mg/g of Rg1, Rb1, and Rg3 and has been evaluated in various in vitro animal and clinical studies, demonstrating its positive effect on immune function [39; 40; 41; 42; 43]. In this study, administration of FRB, improving the content and solubility of water-soluble substances, promoted the expression of cytokines (IL-1, 2, and 12) mostly involved in innate immunity in a CY-suppressed mouse model. IL-2, one of the cytokines increased by FRB administration, directly acts on NK cells in a resting state and affects NK cell proliferation, increases cytotoxicity, and inhibits the expression of perforin and IFN-\(\gamma\)[44; 45]. Since \(\gamma\)-IFN, unlike \(\alpha\)-IFN and \(\beta\)-IFN, has been reported to activate macrophages to intracellularly destroy pathogens, these results suggest that FRB administration activates innate immunity in animal models and contributes to the activation of macrophages. In addition, IL-12 is a heterodimer cytokine composed of p35 and p40 subunits. It is known as a natural killer cell stimulatory factor and is mainly produced in antigen-presenting cells (APCs) [46]. IL-12, APC-derived cytokine, stimulates T cells and NK cells to secrete IFN-\(\gamma\) and augments the proliferation and cytolytic activity of NK cells [47]. IL-12 plays an important role in innate and acquired immune responses, such as increasing the production of IFN-\(\gamma\) in NK cells and T cells and promoting Th-1-type immune responses [47]. On the other hand, in vivo NK cell activity measurement results using FRB and red ginseng extract, which is known to enhance immunity, showed that NK cell activity increased in the FRB-administered group and the red ginseng extract-administered group. The main function of NK cells is that they are more restricted in cognitive function than T cells but respond earlier in hours or days compared to the days to weeks that normal adaptive immune T cells take. These NK cells are stimulated by cytokines such as IL-12 and IL-18 secreted from phagocytic cells, which secrete \(\gamma\)-IFN to activate phagocytic cells and kill phagocytic bacteria and viruses. NK cells are known not only to rapidly produce \(\gamma\)-IFN but also to rapidly progress typical innate immune modalities. According to previous research results, cytokines such as IL-2, IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 are known to increase the cytotoxic potential of NK cells. In this study, we quantitatively and comparatively analyzed IL-2 and IL-12, which are said to be cytokines that can activate NK cells. It could be confirmed that an increase in these two cytokines can increase the activity of NK cells.