FR901228 in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

This phase II trial is studying how well FR901228 works in treating patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as FR901228, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the response rate (complete and partial) in patients with relapsed or refractory Burkitt's, mantle cell or diffuse large cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with FR901228 (depsipeptide). II. Determine the safety and feasibility of this drug, in terms of incidence and maximum grade of toxicity and courses delayed or doses reduced, in these patients. III. Determine the 2-year progression-free survival and overall survival of patients treated with this drug. IV. Correlate tumor expression of BCL-2, BCL-6, BAX, and RAS with response in patients treated with this drug. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive FR901228 (depsipeptide) IV over 4 hours on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days for at least 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 3 months until disease progression and then every 6 months until 5 years from study registration.