Correspondingly, activation of mitophagy was observed in Cu-exposed ATP7B-deficient hepatocytes characterized by Cu overload, a model of WD, whereas PINK1 and BNIP3L depletion promoted cellular apoptosis, thus supporting the role of mitophagy as a protective mechanism in ATP7B-deficient cells (Polishchuk et al., 2019). Here, ATP7B is linked to Wilson disease.