The present invention concerns a method for identifying substances useful for treating inflammation, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: (a) placing said substance in contact with a nucleic acid construct containing the Retinoid-Related Orphan Receptor (ROR) receptor response element of the promoter of the I.kappa.B.alpha. gene, under conditions suitable for allowing said substance to bind to said response element, (b) measuring the possible binding of said substance to the response element or the transcriptional activity of the response element or of a promoter containing it, (c) optionally comparing the measurement of step (b) with a measurement carried out under conditions similar to those of steps (a) and (b) but with a nucleic acid construct containing the mutated response element.