Everolimus and Gefitinib in Treating Patients With Progressive Glioblastoma Multiforme or Progressive Metastatic Prostate Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:
• * Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) (phase I only)
• * Progressive disease despite standard therapy
• * Progressive disease based on 1 of the following:
• * New or progressive (25% bidimensional increase) soft tissue masses on CT scan or MRI
• * New or prior lesions that have increased in size by physical examination
• * Patients who had prior interstitial brachytherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery must have confirmation of true disease progression (rather than radiation necrosis) by positron-emission tomography scan, thallium scanning, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or surgical documentation
• * Castrate metastatic prostate cancer (closed to accrual as of 10/19/2006) (phase I and II)
• * Progressive disease despite standard therapy AND castrate levels \< 50 ng/dL of testosterone
• * Progressive disease based on 1 or more of the following:
• * A minimum of 3 rising levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) that are obtained 1 or more weeks apart OR 2 rising PSA values obtained more than 1 month apart with at least a 25% increase over the range of values
• * New or progressive (25% bidimensional increase) soft tissue masses on CT scan or MRI
• * New metastatic lesions
• * Patients on an antiandrogen as part of initial therapy must show disease progression after discontinuation of the antiandrogen
• * Patients who have not undergone surgical orchiectomy must continue with medical therapy (e.g., gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs) to maintain castrate levels of serum testosterone
• No brain metastases
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• Over 18
• Performance status
• Karnofsky 70-100%
• Life expectancy
• More than 3 months
• Hematopoietic
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• Renal
• Creatinine within 1.5 times ULN (\< 1.95 mg/dL at MSKCC)
• Cardiovascular
• No significant cardiovascular disease
• No congestive heart failure
• No New York Heart Association class III or IV cardiac disease
• No active angina pectoris
• No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
• Other
• Not pregnant
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No serious medical illness
• No severe infection
• No severe malnutrition
• No other active malignancy except non-melanoma skin cancer
• * Patients are not considered to have an active malignancy if they have completed prior therapy and currently have a \< 30% risk for relapse
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• No concurrent biological therapy
• No concurrent immunotherapy
• Chemotherapy
• No concurrent chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery
• See Disease Characteristics
• Prior recent resection of recurrent or progressive GBM allowed provided patient has recovered
• More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery
• Other
• Recovered from all prior therapy
• More than 4 weeks since prior investigational anticancer drugs
• No concurrent anticonvulsant that interacts with CYP3A4 (e.g., phenytoin, carbamazepine, or phenobarbital)
• No other concurrent cytotoxic therapy
• No other concurrent investigational or commercial agents or therapies for the malignancy