Sorafenib Tosylate in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced, Metastatic, or Locally Recurrent Thyroid Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:
• •* Papillary thyroid cancer (stratum I)
• •* Papillary, follicular, Hurthle cell, insular, or anaplastic thyroid cancer (stratum II)
• •* Mixed histology, poorly differentiated, or tall-cell variants allowed
• •Metastatic, locally advanced, or locally recurrent disease
• •At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion \>= 20 mm by conventional techniques OR \>= 10 mm by spiral CT scan
• •* The following are considered non-measurable disease:
• •* Tumors in a previously irradiated area
• •* Bone lesions
• •* Leptomeningeal disease
• •* Ascites
• •* Pleural/pericardial effusion
• •* Lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis
• •* Abdominal masses not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques
• •* Cystic lesions
• •Archival tumor tissue block OR material collected before study entry available (stratum I)
• •Biopsy-accessible disease (stratum I)
• •Performance status - ECOG 0-1
• •At least 6 months
• •WBC \>= 3,000/mm\^3
• •Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3
• •No bleeding diathesis
• •Bilirubin =\< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •AST and ALT =\< 1.5 times ULN
• •Creatinine =\< 1.5 times ULN
• •No uncontrolled hypertension
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •Willing to undergo 2 tumor biopsies during study participation (stratum I)
• •No history of allergic reaction attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to sorafenib
• •No ongoing or active infection
• •No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
• •No other uncontrolled illness
• •No other concurrent malignancy except nonmetastatic nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No prior systemic chemotherapy for thyroid cancer (stratum I)
• •* Prior systemic chemotherapy used to treat a second primary cancer with curative intent allowed provided the primary cancer was treated more than 5 years before study entry
• •No more than 3 prior systemic chemotherapy regimens for thyroid cancer (stratum II)
• •More than 6 weeks since prior systemic chemotherapy (stratum II)
• •No prior external beam radiotherapy to the sole site of measurable disease (except for patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer)
• •More than 6 weeks since prior external beam radiotherapy
• •More than 24 weeks since prior iodine I 131
• •Recovered from all prior therapy
• •No prior sorafenib
• •More than 6 weeks since prior investigational tumor-specific therapy
• •Concurrent oral or IV bisphosphonates for bony metastases allowed at the discretion of the investigator
• •No other concurrent tumor-specific or investigational therapy
• •No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
• •No concurrent therapeutic anticoagulation
• •* Concurrent prophylactic anticoagulation (e.g., low-dose warfarin) for venous or arterial access devices allowed provided PT, INR, or PTT are normal