PS-341 in Treating Patients With Hematologic Cancer

RATIONALE: PS-341 may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for tumor cell growth. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of PS-341 in treating patients who have hematologic cancer.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the maximum tolerated dose and dose-limiting toxicity of PS-341 in patients with hematologic malignancies. II. Determine the pharmacodynamics of this drug in these patients. III. Determine response to this drug in these patients. IV. Determine the correlation between response of malignancies and proteasome inhibition and apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of these patients. V. Determine the correlation between therapy toxicity and proteasome inhibition and apoptosis in PBMC of these patients. VI. Determine the effect of this drug on other molecular markers (i.e., BCL-2 in follicular lymphoma patients and t9;22/BCR/ABL in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients). VII. Determine the correlation between interleukin-6 serum levels in multiple myeloma patients and drug dosing, toxicity of therapy, extent of protease inhibition, response to therapy, and apoptosis in PBMC of these patients. OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation, multicenter study. Patients receive PS-341 IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, and 25 followed by a 2-week rest. Treatment repeats every 6 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of PS-341 until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose at which 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 3-30 patients will be accrued for this study.