Erlotinib and Bevacizumab in Treating Patients With Stage IV Melanoma

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine the overall response rate, response duration, and frequency of progression-free survival at 6 months in patients with stage IV melanoma treated with erlotinib hydrochloride and bevacizumab. * Determine objective responses in patients treated with this regimen. Secondary * Determine the overall safety and tolerability of this regimen in these patients. * Evaluate tissue blocks for EGFR by monoclonal antibody H11 (DAKO) or fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)7p12-specific probe-overexpression or amplification in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive oral erlotinib hydrochloride once daily on days 1-28 and bevacizumab IV over 30-90 minutes on days 1 and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo tissue collection to analyze EGFR by monoclonal antibody H11 (DAKO) or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) 7p12-specific probe-overexpression or amplification. Biological markers AKT, MAPK, p27, p21, CD13, CD34, and factor VIII are also measured. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically.