[Biological therapy of inflammatory diseases].

The pathophysiology and the treatment of diseases with clinical presentation so different as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis vulgaris have been revolutionized by the discovery of common pro-inflammatory effector mechanisms involving TNF-alpha and by the use of targeted therapies, the anti-TNF-alpha antibodies. In the past 10 years, our experience has helped several hundreds of patients who were treated with novel drugs, years before they became routinely available. In parallel tools of metrology were developped that can now be applied to the routine patient. Lastly, clinical research on these new drugs has also generated derived research works allowing the university hospital to satisfactorilly fullfil its specific missions.