ENEA, the Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, has published in the international journal Natural Product Researchcarried a study highlighting the anticancer potential of active biomolecules contained in an extract of the traditional hazelnut from the Viterbo (Lazio) area, Tonda Gentile Romana.

“We have shown that our hazelnut extract is able to kill cancer cells in vitro through a specific direct action that promotes the restoration of the physiological conditions of liver tissue growth,” explains Barbara Benassi of ENEA's Biotechnology Division, who conducted the research in collaboration with colleague Maria Pierdomenico.

ENEA study showed that hazelnut extract can significantly stimulate the intracellular level of the two microRNA molecules in liver cancer cells, inhibiting their proliferation and causing their subsequent death in vitro.