Severe asthma constitutes illness in a relatively small proportion of all 
patients with asthma, but it is a major public health problem - with 
considerable effect on morbidity, mortality, as well as a high burden on health 
care resources. Regardless of effective treatments being widely available and 
the existence of treatment guidelines, a large population of severe asthma cases 
remain uncontrolled. Achieving and maintaining asthma control in this group of 
patients is, therefore, of utmost importance. The recognition of distinct 
inflammatory phenotypes within this population has driven the development of 
targeted biological therapies - particularly, selective targeted monoclonal 
antibodies (mAbs). It is noteworthy that in approximately 50% of these patients, 
there is strong evidence of the pathogenic role of T helper type-2 (Th2) 
cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, orchestrating the eosinophilic 
and allergic inflammatory processes. Among the recently developed antiasthma 
biologic drugs, the mAb dupilumab is very promising given its ability to inhibit 
the biological effects of both IL-4 and IL-13. In this review, we focused on 
IL-4 and IL-13, as these interleukins are considered to play a key role in the 
pathophysiology of asthma, and on dupilumab, an anti-IL-4 receptor human mAb, as 
a forthcoming treatment for uncontrolled severe asthma in the near future.