HK2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, mRNA expression of hexokinase 2 (HK II), which catalyzes the phosphorylation of glucose to glucose-6-P, corelates with HIF-1α protein in hepatocellular carcinoma cells and metastatic liver cancer, and HK II and HIF-1α protein expression co-localized in these cancer cells [35,36].