O6-benzylguanine and Carmustine in Treating Patients With Unresectable Locally Recurrent or Metastatic Melanoma

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically proven unresectable locally recurrent or metastatic melanoma
• * Chemotherapy naive with no more than 2 prior immunotherapy regimens (including cytokines, vaccines, or adjuvant interferon) OR
• * Prior chemotherapy failure with no more than 2 prior immunotherapy regimens (including adjuvant interferon) and no more than 1 prior chemotherapy regimen (which may include carmustine) not including antiangiogenesis therapy
• Measurable disease
• * At least 20 mm in at least 1 dimension by conventional technique OR at least 10 mm in at least 1 dimension by spiral CT scan
• No disease confined only to the CNS
• No uncontrolled symptomatic brain metastases regardless of other disease sites
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age:
• 18 and over
• Performance status:
• ECOG 0-2
• Life expectancy:
• At least 12 weeks
• Hematopoietic:
• WBC at least 3,000/mm\^3
• Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,200/mm\^3
• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic:
• Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
• AST and/or ALT no greater than 3 times upper limit of normal
• PT normal
• Renal:
• Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL OR
• Creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min
• Pulmonary:
• DLCO at least 70% predicted
• Other:
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No concurrent significant psychiatric or medical illness, including active infections, that would interfere with study therapy or increase risk
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated nonmelanomatous skin cancer, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, or superficial bladder cancer
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Chemotherapy:
• At least 4 weeks since prior systemic chemotherapy (at least 6 weeks since prior carmustine or mitomycin) and recovered
• No other concurrent chemotherapy or investigational antineoplastic drugs
• Radiotherapy:
• At least 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery:
• At least 3 weeks since prior major surgery and recovered
• Other:
• At least 4 weeks since other prior anticancer systemic therapy and recovered