Azacitidine and Etanercept in Treating Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndromes

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the frequency of hematologic responses in patients with MDS to 5-aza (azacitidine) plus etanercept. II. Determine the efficacy of 5-aza combined with etanercept in patients with low or intermediate (int)-1 risk who fail to respond to anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) plus etanercept and for the purpose of this trial are considered as having progressive or "more advanced" disease. III. Correlate results of ex vivo/in vitro studies on phenotypic, cytogenetic and functional disease characteristics with in vivo treatment responses, to identify parameters that are associated with a high probability of response. OUTLINE: Patients receive etanercept subcutaneously (SC) twice weekly during weeks 1 and 2 and azacitidine SC or intravenously (IV) over 10-40 minutes on days 1-7. Treatment repeats every 28 days for at least 3 courses. Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.