Alanosine in Treating Patients With Progressive or Recurrent Malignant Gliomas

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed malignant glioma of 1 of the following types:
• * Anaplastic astrocytoma
• * Anaplastic oligodendroglioma
• * Glioblastoma multiforme
• Progressive or recurrent disease after prior radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy
• * Low-grade glioma that progressed after prior radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy and is found to be high-grade glioma after biopsy allowed
• * No more than 2 prior treatment regimens
• Measurable disease by CT scan or MRI
• Documented absence of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) on fixed tumor specimens
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 18 and over
• Performance status
• Karnofsky 60-100%
• Life expectancy
• Not specified
• Hematopoietic
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• Transaminases ≤ 4 times upper limit of normal
• Renal
• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• Other
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception before, during, and for 4 weeks after study participation
• Mini mental state exam score of ≥ 15
• No psychological or sociological condition, addictive disorder, or family problem that would preclude study compliance
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix or breast
• No concurrent serious infection or medical illness that would preclude study participation
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• No concurrent prophylactic growth factors (e.g., filgrastim \[G-CSF\] or sargramostim \[GM-CSF\])
• Chemotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas)
• Endocrine therapy
• Must be maintained on a stable or lower corticosteroid regimen from the time of the baseline scan until the start of study treatment
• No concurrent steroids as antiemetics
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 months since prior radiotherapy
• Surgery
• Not specified
• Other
• Recovered from prior therapy
• More than 10 days since prior anticonvulsant drugs that induce hepatic metabolic enzymes
• No other concurrent investigational agents