BCKDK and cancer: Notably, non-mitochondrial Bckdk has a known role in cancer promotion and cell proliferation and migration (Tian et al, 2020; Xue et al, 2017; Xu et al, 2023) that, in turn, may be related to stem cell and pluripotency-like states (Chen and He, 2015; Hepburn et al, 2019).