FLIP L is critical for aerobic glycolysis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Tumor cells use aerobic glycolysis to rapidly generate ATP and growth substrate which expenses a large amount of glucose. However, how tumor cells take in enough glucose from the tumor microenvironment of insufficient blood supply remains poorly understood. The cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (FLIP), a cell apoptosis inhibiting molecule, is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is implicated in HCC development.