PTEN and cancer: Hexokinases catalyse the essentially irreversible first step of the glycolytic pathway, and a high level of HK2 expression is associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients.107,108 Genetic studies demonstrated that PTEN deletion increases HK2 mRNA translation through the activation of the AKT-mTORC1-4EBP1 axis, and p53 loss enhances HK2 mRNA stability through the inhibition of miR143 biogenesis.