Abstract. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by airway obstruction and hyper-responsiveness. It is a complex disorder influenced by genetic and environmental factors, which contribute to the clinical manifestations of asthma. Asthma may affect the lower respiratory tract, causing epithelial damage, mucus hyper-secretion, edema, bronchospasm, and airway remodeling. Genetic studies have uncovered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with asthma. However, knowledge of the functional impact of these SNPs is lacking. Several genes associated with asthma have been well characterized on a functional level: ORMDL3, S1PR1, PHF11, F3, and ADAM33. Epigenetic modifications, which include DNA methylation, histone modification, and miRNA, affect transcriptional activity in multiple genetic pathways associated with the development of asthma. The aim of this paper is to describe the pathophysiology, etiology, genetics, and epigenetics of asthma and the factors contributing to its development.