Cetuximab in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Stage IIIB or Stage IV Lung Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine the objective response rate in patients with recurrent or stage IIIB or IV bronchoalveolar carcinoma (BAC) or adenocarcinoma of the lung with BAC features treated with cetuximab. Secondary * Determine the overall survival and time to progression in patients treated with this drug. * Determine the toxic effects of this drug in these patients. * Correlate expression of total and phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), total and phosphorylated AKT3, and total and phosphorylated MAPKinase with response in patients treated with this drug. * Determine whether the presence of polymorphisms or mutations in the EGFR gene influences response in patients treated with this drug. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive cetuximab IV over 1-2 hours once on days 1, 8, 15, and 22. Courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 3 years. ACTUAL ACCRUAL: A total of 72 patients were accrued for this study.