Leukemic stem cells (LSCs) are root of clonal growth in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and responsible for the propagation of leukemic blasts (LBs). LSCs are considered as CD34 + CD38- population among LBs and often express as CD123, CD44, or CD184, which are rarely expressed on normal hematopoietic stem cells and could be the potential therapeutic targets. Using multi-color flow cytometry, we analyzed the proportions of CD34 + CD38- LSCs and expression of CD123, CD44, and CD184 on LSCs in 63 patients with AML. The median proportion of LSCs was 1.3 % (0.0-33.1 %) at the time of diagnosis. Of all patients, 74.6 % of them had CD123-positive LSCs, all patients had CD44-positive LSCs, and 85.7 % had CD184-positive LSCs, respectively. The proportions of LSCs were significantly lower in the complete remission (CR) group compared with non-CR group (P = 0.006). The lower proportions of LSCs in CR group indicated that measurement of the proportion of LSCs might be helpful to predict the prognosis of AML.