The study screened 16,000 different chemical compounds and found that only a small subset, including salinomycin and etoposide, targeted cancer stem cells responsible for metastasis and relapse.

[6] Studies performed in 2011 showed that salinomycin could induce apoptosis of human cancer cells at higher concentrations.

[7][8] It has been also shown that salinomycin and its derivatives exhibit potent antiproliferative activity against the drug-resistant cancer cell lines.

[citation needed] A team from the University of Cambridge has cloned and sequenced the biosynthetic cluster responsible for salinomycin production, from Streptomyces albus DSM 41398.

The cluster contains a NRPS[clarification needed]-like carrier protein, SalX, that is suspected to tether “pre-salinomycin” during oxidative cyclization.