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National Cancer Institute: (http://www.nci.nih.gov) One of the many Institutes that makes up the National Institutes of Health. Each Institute is dedicated to research on the causes, behavior, treatment, and prevention of human diseases. The Institutes is part of the Public Health Service and resides administratively in the Department of Health and Human Services. The home page of the National Institutes of Health can be found at http://www.nih.gov

Neutropenia: A decrease below normal in the concentration of neutrophils, a type of white cell.

Neutrophils: The principal phagocyte (microbe-eating) cell in the blood. This blood cell is the main cell that combats infections. Often, it is not present in sufficient quantities in patients with acute leukemia or after chemotherapy. A severe deficiency of neutrophils increases the patient's susceptibility to infection. A neutrophil may be called a “poly” (polymorphonuclear neutrophil) or “seg” (segmented neutrophil) because its nucleus has several lobes.