10-Propargyl-10-Deazaaminopterin in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Refractory Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma or Hodgkin's Lymphoma

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the efficacy of 10-propargyl-10-deazaaminopterin, in terms of objective response rate, duration of response, and time to disease progression, in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or Hodgkin's lymphoma. * Determine the impact of pharmacokinetics on toxicity and drug elimination in patients treated with this drug. * Determine the toxicity of this drug in these patients. * Determine the effect of prior chemotherapy response duration on duration of response in patients treated with this drug. * Correlate, if possible, the pharmacodynamics (area under the curve) of this drug with tumor response and toxicity (mucositis) in these patients. * Correlate, if possible, intraerythrocytic folate or homocysteine levels with severity of mucositis in patients treated with this drug. * Determine whether levels of the RFC-1 folate transporter, folylpolyglutamate synthetase, and folylpolyglutamate hydrolase are markers of response in patients treated with this drug. OUTLINE: This is an open-label study. Patients receive 10-propargyl-10-deazaaminopterin IV over 1 hour on day 1. Courses repeat every 14 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving a complete response (CR) may receive 2 additional courses beyond the CR. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 39-72 patients (12-35 for cohort 1 and 17-37 for cohort 2) will be accrued for this study within 10-36 months.