FR901228 in Treating Patients With Hematologic Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of FR901228 in treating patients who have hematologic cancer.

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the in vivo biologic effect of FR901228 (depsipeptide) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. * Determine the pharmacokinetics and cellular pharmacodynamics of this drug in these patients. * Determine any preliminary anti-tumor activity of this drug in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a dose-decreasing, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to disease (chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma vs acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Patients receive FR901228 (depsipeptide) IV over 4 hours on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 4 weeks for up to 1 year in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Cohorts of 10 patients per stratum receive decreasing doses of FR901228 until the minimal active dose is determined. If 5 or more patients show clinical or biological response, the subsequent cohort is treated at a lower dose. If fewer than 5 patients respond, the subsequent cohort is treated at a higher dose. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A minimum of 20 patients (10 per stratum) will be accrued for this study.