The PPP pathway metabolites, ribose 5-phosphate (R5P) and NADPH, are mainly produced by rate-limiting enzymes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and 6-phosphogluconolactonase (PGLS), which are essential for the survival of HCC cells and the synthesis of fatty acids (Gao et al., 2019; Jing et al., 2019; Li M. et al., 2019; Ghergurovich et al., 2020). Here, PGLS is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.