The chemotherapy agents against cancer may be classified as "cell cycle-specific" or "cell cycle-nonspecific". Nevertheless, several of them have their biological activity related to any kind of action on DNA such as: antimetabolic agents (DNA synthesis inhibition), inherently reactive agents (DNA alkylating electrophilic traps for macromolecular nucleophiles from DNA through inter-strand cross-linking - ISC - alkylation) and intercalating agents (drug-DNA interactions inherent to the binding made due to the agent penetration in to the minor groove of the double helix). The earliest and perhaps most extensively studied and most heavily employed clinical anticancer agents in use today are the DNA inter-strand cross-linking agents.

Samples of a commercial glass fiber FM® (Fiber Max) were used to test the efficacy of a chemical sol-gel surface treatment to enhance their bioactivity. After treatment with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), individual fiber samples were soaked into a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution, from which they were removed at intervals of 5 and 10 days. Micrographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of samples chemically treated with TEOS revealed the formation of a hydroxyapatite (HA) coating layer after 5 days into SBF solution. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) analyses confirmed that the coating layer has P-O vibration bands characteristic of HA. The in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated using a direct contact test, minimum essential medium elution test (ISO 10993-5) and MTT assay. Fibers immersed in SBF and their extracts exhibited lower cytotoxicity than the controls not subjected to immersion, suggesting that SBF treatment improves the biocompatibility of the fiber.