[Biotechnology for rheumatology researches]

Recent developments in biotechnology include cellular engineering and molecular engineering. In order to further investigate several aspects of rheumatic diseases, it is necessary to know and apply these new techniques. They are, for example, monoclonal antibody productions, T cell lines, T cell hybridomas, gene cloning, Southern blot, Northern blot, recombinant protein productions and PCR. Out lines of these techniques are described.