HK1 and cancer: To meet the high-energy demand, cancer cells accelerate glycolysis through the upregulation of glucose transporter proteins (e.g., GLUT1) and the expression of key glycolytic enzymes (e.g., hexokinase) that accelerate glycolysis while relying on pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, amino acid and lipid metabolism to support cancer cell growth [28, 66, 67].