STX17 and familial dilated cardiomyopathy: Xian et al. (2019) demonstrated that the SNARE protein syntaxin 17 (STX17) initiates mitophagy upon the depletion of Fis1, indicating that proteins involved in mitochondrial dynamics may inhibit mitophagy and cause deterioration in DCM. Therefore, complex interactions may be involved in mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy in DCM, depending on the exact pathophysiology and environment present (Figure 4).