Pyrazoloacridine in Treating Patients With Metastatic Skin or Eye Melanoma

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically confirmed metastatic cutaneous or ocular melanoma that is chemotherapy naive
• •Bidimensionally measurable disease
• •No pleural effusions or ascites
• •No untreated CNS metastases
• •Stable brain metastases by CT or MRI scan
• •* At least 4 weeks since prior steroid therapy
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age:
• •18 and over
• •Performance status:
• •ECOG 0-2
• •Life expectancy:
• •At least 12 weeks
• •Hematopoietic:
• •WBC at least 4,000/mm\^3
• •Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
• •Hepatic:
• •Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
• •SGOT and SGPT no greater than 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2.5 times ULN (unless due to hepatic metastases)
• •Renal:
• •Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL OR
• •Creatinine clearance at least 60 mL/min
• •Other:
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •No active infection
• •No known hypersensitivity to E.coli derived proteins
• •No other serious medical problems
• •No more than 1 primary malignancy within past 5 years, other than:
• •* Nonmelanomatous skin cancer
• •* Carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No history of spinal cord compression
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy:
• •Prior biologic therapy allowed (e.g., interleukin-2, interferon alfa, or vaccine therapy)
• •Chemotherapy:
• •No prior chemotherapy
• •Endocrine therapy:
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •Radiotherapy:
• •Prior radiotherapy for primary ocular melanoma, brain metastases, or to metastatic sites encompassing less than 25% of the bone marrow allowed
• •No other prior radiotherapy
• •Surgery:
• •At least 2 weeks since prior surgery and recovered