FR901228 in Treating Patients With Previously Treated Unresectable Locally Advanced or Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as FR901228, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well FR901228 works in treating patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the confirmed response (complete and partial) in patients with previously treated unresectable locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer treated with FR901228 (depsipeptide). * Determine the time to treatment failure and overall survival of patients treated with this drug. * Determine the qualitative and quantitative toxic effects of this drug in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive FR901228 (depsipeptide) IV over 4 hours on days 1, 8, and 15. Courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 8 weeks until disease progression and then every 3 months until 1 year after study entry and then every 6 months until 3 years after study entry. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 20-40 patients will be accrued for this study within 4-10 months.