Table 1 Example of some surface marker of CSC in different human cancers [27, 33,34,35]

Head and neck

HNC is more common in men by twofold–fivefold compared to women

CD44, CD271

The highest levels of CD44 were observed in patients with advanced stages of disease as compared to a healthy control group

Using both CD44 and CD271 allowed the isolation of CSCs from HNSCC

[36,37,38,39,40,41]

Breast

Breast cancer is so common in women and—less than 1% of breast cancers occur in men

ALDH1, CD44, CD133, CD24

ALDH1⁺CD44⁺/CD24^−/low cells demonstrated the strongest stem-like properties ALDH1 marker is a good predictive marker for breast cancer

CD133 expression was decreased in tumors with larger tumor size, higher stage and lymphovascular invasion

CD133 expression was correlated with positive HER2 status

[42,43,44,45,46]

Prostate cancer stem cell

Not found

CD44, CD 133

CD133⁺ cells were demonstrated to be able to possess a high in vitro proliferative potential

[47]

Ovarian

Not found

CD133, CD44, CD117, CD24

CD44 is one the potential marker of ovarian cancer

CD 133 is one of the most commonly reported ovarian CSC surface markers

CD24 is associated with tumor formation, metastasis, poor prognosis, chemoresistance, and recurrence of disease

[48, 49]

Colon

Higher colon cancer age-adjusted incidence among men than women

EpCAM, CD44, CD29, CD24, CD133, CD166

CD133 is considered a specific marker of primary colorectal CSCs

CD166 can be considered together with other markers, such as CD44, CD24, CD29 and CD26

[50,51,52,53]

Renal cancer stem cells

Renal cell carcinoma occurrence 2 to 3 times higher in men than in women

CD105, ALDH1, OCT4, CD133

CD44−CD105− displaying stem-like phenotype

[54,55,56]

Hematological and leukemic stem cells

Females were slightly more affected compared with males

CD19, CD34, CD26, CD38, CD33+

Lack of CD34 or high CD38 expression is associated with favorable prognosis

[57,58,59]

Bone marrow (BM)

Gender differences was not statistically significant

CD10, CD19 and CD34

BM case is CD19⁺ CD10⁺ B cell precursors and the percentage of CD34⁺ was also higher than normal case. Commonly CD10+ is detected, too

[60, 61]

Brain

Glioblastoma incidence is 60 percent higher in males than in females

CD15, CD90, CD133

CD15 exhibited stable expression in long-term cultured tumor spheres, whereas CD133 expression decreased significantly in late passages

CD15 can be used as a marker of stem-like cells derived from brain tumors in all stages

[62, 63]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

Hepatocellular carcinoma was more aggressive in male

EpCAM, CD133, CD44, CD90, CD133

EpCAM or CD133 has been used commonly as the tumor initiating cells marker in hepatocellular carcinoma

CD90 may be considered to be a marker for invasion, migration, and metastasis

[64,65,66]

Melanoma stem cells

The majority of people who develop melanoma are white men over age 55

CD271, CD20,

CD271 associated with metastasis and maintains long-term tumor growth

[67, 67]

Endometrial

Endometrial cancer is the sixth most commonly occurring cancer in women

ALDH1, CD133

ALDH cells demonstrated greater endometrial cancer stem cell activity than CD133 cells and had increased expression of stem cell and epithelial–mesenchymal transition gene

[69]

Lung

Men develop lung cancer more often than women

CD44, CD166, CD133

Increased expression of CD44 was significantly correlated with higher grade tumors

The expression of the adhesion molecule CD166 in primary lung cancer is associated with smaller tumors with no lymph node metastasis

CD166 population shows higher in vivo tumor initiating capacity in comparison to CD133⁺, CD44⁺, and EpCAM⁺ cells isolated from the same cells

[70,71,72]