Certain anomalies observed in the angular correlation spectra of electron/positron pairs produced in nuclear transitions of 8Be, 4He and 12C can be interpreted as the emission of a bosonic particle with a mass of 17 MeV, that promptly decays into e+e−. I review the current status of these anomalies, and some theoretical interpretation for the hypothetical new particle. I will also describe the prospects for validating or disproving the X17 hypothesis by means of a particle physics experiment.