BALBc

BALB/c, commonly written BALB/c or BALB/c mice, is an inbred laboratory mouse strain that is albino and among the most widely used in biomedical research. The strain is maintained as an inbred line, with common substrains such as BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ. The white coat results from a recessive mutation in the Tyr gene.

Immunologically, BALB/c mice tend to mount strong humoral responses and exhibit a T helper 2–biased profile, with higher production of IL-4, IL-5, and IgG1, and comparatively lower levels of IFN-γ. This bias makes them particularly suitable for studies of antibody production, vaccine responses, and certain infectious disease models, but less ideal for studying Th1-driven immunity. They are widely used in cancer research as a syngeneic host for murine tumor cell lines, such as 4T1 and CT26, enabling evaluation of tumor immunology and therapies.

Applications and limitations: The genetic uniformity of BALB/c mice supports reproducible results, yet substrain differences and environmental factors can influence immune readouts. They are commonly used for hybridoma production due to robust antibody responses and serve as standard preclinical models in vaccines, infectious diseases, and transplantation experiments. Researchers should account for substrain background and experimental conditions when interpreting results.

Overall, BALB/c mice remain a foundational model in immunology and cancer biology, valued for their well-characterized immune phenotype and versatility in a wide range of research contexts.