In colon cancer cells treated with a combination of elesclomol (an anticancer drug that targets mitochondrial metabolism) and copper, it was found that copper accumulation in the mitochondria led to an increase in reactive oxygen species and the solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) protein, which is involved in the regulation of cellular antioxidant response (Gao et al., 2021). Here, SLC7A11 is linked to colonic neoplasm.