FR901228 Alone or Combined With Rituximab and Fludarabine in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Low-Grade B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria

• •Patients must have histologically and clinically confirmed relapsed and/or refractory low grade follicular B cell NHL (follicular small cleaved cell, follicular mixed small and large cell, and small lymphocytic lymphoma (according to the IWF classification); the malignant tissues must be positive for CD 20 on immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry
• •History of one or multiple prior chemotherapy regimens for low grade follicular NHL, but no more than 4 therapies
• •* For the phase II trial: previous therapies can include rituximab, fludarabine (alone not in combination or sequentially); the most recent therapy should be completed more then 4 weeks prior to protocol entry, 6 months if the last regimen included Fludarabine, rituximab, nitrosoureas or mitomycin, and at least 8 weeks out from a treatment with UCN-01
• •* For phase I trial: Patients can move from phase II to phase I trial if they have not received rituximab and fludarabine in combination or sequentially in the past, if they received one or both agents individually and had a 50% responses; this response corresponds to PR to prior therapy
• •Presence of measurable disease by CT scan 4 weeks after the last chemotherapeutic regimen with at least one lesion greater than 1.5c m in one dimension and or positive bone marrow biopsy
• •ECOG performance status ≤ 2 with a minimal life expectancy of 4 months
• •Female patients of childbearing age should have negative pregnancy test; pregnant and breast-feeding women will not be eligible for the study because the antiproliferative effects of depsipeptide may be harmful to the developing fetus or nursing infants
• •Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1000/µl; lower ANC (\>= 500/µl) count will be considered if they are due to a bone marrow involvement by the disease; patients can receive growth factors (G-CSF and erythropoietin) to sustain the peripheral counts during the cycles of therapy
• •Platelets \>= 100.000/µl; lower platelets (\>50.000/µl) count will be considered if they are due to a bone marrow involvement by the disease; patients can receive growth factors (G-CSF and erythropoietin) to sustain the peripheral counts during the cycles of therapy
• •Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal
• •AST/ALT =\< 3 x institutional upper limit of normal
• •Creatinine =\< 1.5 x the institutional upper limit of normal
• •Patients with history of seizures are included if under adequate control; blood levels of seizure medications are monitored during the study
• •The patient must understand the investigational nature of the protocol, potential risks and benefits of the study and provides an informed written consent form