Subsequently, in order to evaluate the effect of mitophagy on the PPAR-α/PGC-1α signaling pathway, pc-DNA3.1-BNIP3 was transfected into EtOH-treated AML-12 cells to overexpress BNIP3, resulting in higher levels of mitophagy-associated proteins in the pc-DNA3.1-BNIP3 treatment group compared to that in the control (Additional file 1: Figure S4A). Here, BNIP3 is linked to acute myeloid leukemia.