Table 1.

Distinct characteristics between CSCs and non-CSCs

CSCs	Non-CSCs
Small amount (0.01–2%), rare within tumors most of the time, but can increase to more than 30% in short time [15]	Large quantity, almost majority within tumors
Self-renewal, multipotency, and symmetric/asymmetric divisions	Limited proliferation and symmetric divisions
Reside predominantly in hypoxic, low pH and low nutrient niches [16]	Stochastic distribution
Dysregulated cell cycle, reversible cellular quiescence capability [17]	None
High tumorigenic capacity	low
Ability to induce therapeutic resistance [18]	The main target of treatment until the emergence of unresponsive cancer cells
Highly responsive to changes in the tumor microenvironment	low
High heterogeneity than non-CSCs counterpart in tumors	Low heterogeneity
Ability to arrange a hierarchy of daughter cells [19]	None