Kostmann's Neutropenia Caused by Cancer Chemotherapy Neutropenia affects as many as one in three patients receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Cancer cells grow and divide very quickly. Chemotherapy works by acting mainly on quickly dividing cells. But these drugs can't tell the difference between a growing tumor and some normal cells, such as neutrophils, which also divide quickly Therefore, neutrophils are also killed by the chemotherapy .Patients with Neutropenia can develop fever and infections. They must be hospitalized and given very strong and costly antibiotics.s.