Chronic inflammation is an increasing medical problem area of high socioeconomic significance. The invention relates to a method and a kit for diagnosing a molecular phenotype of a patient suffering from an illness accompanied by chronic inflammation, and to a medicament for treating such a patient. To that end, the gene expression of GATA-3 and/or Tbet in a biological isolate of the patient is measured and used for association with a molecular phenotype of the illness.