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RecruitingNCT07652151UNMASKUpdated Jun 23, 2026

UNMASK: Unveiling the Pathobiology of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease for the Discovery of Novel Therapeutics and Biomarkers

An interventional study of Multimodal lifestyle intervention in MASLD (Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease), sponsored by Fundación Pública Andaluza para la gestión de la Investigación en Sevilla. Recruiting at 3 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-23.

Primary conditionFibrosis(the registry's first term)UnverifiedIs this wrong?Fibrosis is a broad heading, used only when no more specific condition is named. No better condition is named, so the registry's term is kept.

Sponsored by Fundación Pública Andaluza para la gestión de la Investigación en Sevilla · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2026, registered Jun 2026).
  • Started Jan 2026; still recruiting 9 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
450
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Overall design: The study will include one intervention based on Mediterranean diet plus structured lifestyle intervention (150 min/week of moderate-intensity or 75 min/week of high-intensity exercise) for a total of 16 weeks. Following a screening period of up to 12 months, eligible participants will be included in a single cohort.

Study details include:

  • Study duration will be up to 36 months including the screening period.
  • Intervention will be up to 16 weeks.
  • Visit frequency will be every 4 weeks for the interventional period and every 12 weeks during follow-up.
Read the detailed description

The UNMASK trial is a multicenter (Spain, Italy and Turkey), prospective, open-label lifestyle intervention based on tailored caloric restriction and monitored exercise. UNMASK aims to prove that the amelioration of MASLD at systemic and hepatic levels will be parallel to the improvement in our selected biomarkers. Given the known challenges with diagnosis and staging of MASH when using histopathological assessments of liver biopsies, the study will evaluate various blood-based non-invasive biomarkers. Non-invasive tests will be performed to asses endpoints. UNMASK includes a single arm in which patients undergo lifestyle changes, chiefly through the prescription of Mediterranean diet and physical exercise.

02

Conditions studied

  • MASLD (Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease)

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Fibrosis
  • Obesity
  • Personalised Medicine
  • Patient Phenotyping
  • Lifestyle intervention
03

In context

Fibrosis Unverified

1,270 studies on the registry are indexed under Fibrosis; 276 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 450 is above the median of 63 across 840 interventional studies indexed under Fibrosis.

Browse Fibrosis studies →

Lead sponsor

Fundación Pública Andaluza para la gestión de la Investigación en Sevilla is the lead sponsor of 120 studies on the registry; 26 are open to participants now.

Compared within Fibrosis, the registry's first condition term, which may not be this study's main condition. Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Metabolic disarrangements following ATPIII criteria (i.e. comorbidities such as Type 2 diabetes, central obesity, ≥>25 kg/m2, hypertension, dyslipidaemia.
  • Written
  • No dietetical counsellor/weight loss higher than 10% within the prior 6 months
  • Age over 18 years old
  • Liver stiffness measurement by Fibroscan ≥ 8, CAP ≥ 248 db/m and MRI PDFF ≥ 5%. ,

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Significant alcohol intake (≥30 g/day in men and ≥20 g/day in women)
  • Other causes of liver disease (evidence of viral or hepatitis, , drug-induced fatty liver or other metabolic liver diseases)
  • Use of recreational drugs
  • Decompensated acute or chronic liver disease
  • Cirrhosis or transplant waitlist
  • Pregnancy or parenteral nutrition
  • No nutritional interventions, medications for weight loss or weight loss higher than 5% within the last year
  • Presence of other comorbidities that would impact lifestyle intervention (i. e. prosthesis)
  • Absence of a personal smartphone with a compatible operating system capable of supporting the Amazfit Bip 6 accelerometer app's functionalities: Android 7.0 or iOS 14.0, or later.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(4)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
450 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Multimodal lifestyle intervention

    Mediterranean diet (MD) rich in olive oil, nuts and coffee, combined with structured exercise through a lifestyle intervention (LSI)

    Behavioral: Multimodal lifestyle intervention

Interventions

  • BehavioralMultimodal lifestyle intervention

    Mediterranean diet plus structured lifestyle intervention (150 min/week of moderate-intensity or 75 min/week of high-intensity exercise) for a total of 16 weeks.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants Achieving a Steatosis Response

    Defined as a 30% decrease in MRI-Proton Density Fat Fraction (PDFF) and CAP assessed by Transient Elastography

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

  2. Number of Participants Achieving Fibrosis Regression

    \>20% reduction in liver stiffness measured by MRE.

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

  3. Change From Baseline in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis Resolution Index Score

    Change from baseline to Month 16 in the Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis Resolution Index (MASH Resolution Index; MASH-RI), a composite non-invasive score developed to estimate resolution of steatohepatitis. The MASH-RI is calculated as: 0.520-0.003×baseline ALT (U/L)-0.024×(latest ALT (U/L)-baseline ALT (U/L))-0.048×baseline MRI-PDFF-2.571×(\[latest MRI-PDFF-baseline MRI-PDFF\]/baseline MRI-PDFF)-0.039×baseline AST (U/L). A MASH-RI ≥-0.67 rules in MASH resolution, and a MASH-RI of ≤-2.67 rules out a resolution.

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

Secondary outcomes

  1. % Change in Weight

    Weight measured in kilograms

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

  2. % Change in Waist Circumference

    Waist Circumference measured in centimeters

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

  3. Change in Patient Reported Physical Activity

    Assessment of patient reported physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). IPAQ classifies individuals into five categories based on their total Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes per week. Low physical activity: Less than 600 MET-minutes/week; moderate physical activity: Between 600 and 3,000 MET-minutes/week; or high physical activity: More than 3,000 MET-minute/week

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

  4. Change in Patient Reported Diet Habits by MEDAS Questionnaire

    Assessment of patient reported diet habits using the MEDAS questionnaire, a 14-item questionnaire of Mediterranean Diet adherence. Score lower than 9 means low adherence to Mediterranean Diet, and score equal or higher that 9 means good adherence to Mediterranean Diet.

    Time frame: From baseline to month 16

07

Study locations

1 of 3 sites recruiting
  • Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS. Internal Medicine and Liver Transplantation Unit
    Roma, Italy
    Not yet recruiting
  • Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla
    Seville, Spain
    Recruiting
    • Manuel Romero-Gómez · Contactmromerogomez@us.es · +34954786587
    • Luis Calzadilla-Bertot · Contactluis.calzadilla@ciberehd.org
    • Manuel Romero-Gómez · Principal investigator
    • Luis Calzadilla-Bertot · Sub investigator
    • Rocío Gallego-Durán · Sub investigator
  • Hacettepe University
    Ankara, Turkey (Türkiye)
    Not yet recruiting
08

References and documents

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 23, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07652151
Collaborators
Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Hacettepe University, Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER)
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 16, 2026
Start date
Jan 20, 2026
Primary completion
Nov 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Feb 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 23, 2026

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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