HK2 and cancer: Indeed, higher levels of G6P are required to sustain oxidative and non-oxidative branches of the PPP and this can be achieved by (i) enhancing the amount of glucose that is phosphorylated by the glycolytic-rate limiting enzyme hexokinase 2 (HK2), the main isoform expressed by cancer cells, and (ii) by engulfing the glycolytic pathway and subsequent enhancing the accumulation of glycolytic intermediates.