Arsenic Trioxide in Treating Women With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically confirmed breast cancer, meeting 1 of the following criteria:
• •* Locally advanced disease
• •* Cannot be adequately treated by radiotherapy or surgery
• •* Metastatic disease
• •Ineligible for OR received prior anthracycline- and/or taxane-based chemotherapy with subsequent disease progression
• •No uncontrolled Central Nervous System (CNS) metastases
• •Ineligible for treatment protocols of higher priority
• •Hormone receptor status:
• •* Not specified
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age
• •18 and over
• •Sex
• •Female
• •Menopausal status
• •Not specified
• •Performance status
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0-1 OR
• •Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 0-1 OR
• •Zubrod 0-1
• •Life expectancy
• •At least 12 weeks
• •Hematopoietic
• •Absolute neutrophil count greater than 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm\^3
• •Hepatic
• •Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal
• •Serum Glutamic Oxalacetic Transaminase (SGOT)/Serum Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase (SGPT) no greater than 3 times normal
• •Renal
• •Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL
• •Calcium no greater than 12 mg/dL
• •Cardiovascular
• •Cardiac ejection fraction greater than 50%
• •No myocardial infarction or ischemia within the past 6 months
• •No uncontrolled clinically significant dysrhythmia
• •Other
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •Electrolytes normal
• •Magnesium normal
• •No other malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No prior or ongoing grade 2-4 peripheral neuropathy
• •No comorbid condition that would render the patient at high risk from study treatment complications
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy
• •No concurrent cytokine therapy
• •Chemotherapy
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •No more than 3 prior chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer
• •No other concurrent chemotherapy
• •Endocrine therapy
• •Not specified
• •Radiotherapy
• •More than 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• •No prior radiotherapy to an indicator lesion unless there is objective evidence of tumor growth in that lesion
• •No concurrent radiotherapy except for the following:
• •* Palliative or emergent radiotherapy
• •* Local consolidative radiotherapy
• •Surgery
• •More than 2 weeks since prior surgery
• •Concurrent local consolidative surgery allowed
• •Other
• •At least 4 weeks since prior antineoplastic agents for nonmalignant conditions (e.g., methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis)
• •No concurrent antineoplastic agents for nonmalignant conditions
• •No concurrent participation in another treatment protocol
• •Concurrent local palliative therapy allowed