JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table>
    <tr>
        <th>th 1</th>
        <th>th*2</th>
        <th>*th 3</th>
        <th>th 4</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <th>th 1</th>
        <th>th*2</th>
        <th>*th 3</th>
        <th>th 4</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>td 1</td>
        <td>td 2</td>
        <td>td 3</td>
        <td>td 4</td>
    </tr>
</table>

CSS

.special {
    background: red;
}

JavaScript

$("table tr th:contains('*')").each(function(){
  var $This=$(this);

  $This.parent().addClass("special"); /* Add the "special" class */
  $This.text($This.text().replace("*","")); /* Remove the asterisk */
});