Gefitinib and Etoposide in Treating Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer That Did Not Respond to Hormone Therapy

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine the activity of gefitinib and etoposide, in terms of overall response rate, in patients with hormone-refractory advanced prostate cancer previously treated with docetaxel-based therapy. Secondary * Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients. * Determine whether related biomarkers can help predict response in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a nonrandomized study. Patients receive oral gefitinib once daily on days 1-28 and oral etoposide once daily on days 1-14. Treatment repeats every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo blood sample collection at baseline and periodically during study for correlative studies. Blood samples are analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for biomarkers (e.g., VEGF, basic fibroblast growth factor, and anti-EGFR antibody titers) in order to determine whether one or more of these biomarkers can predict response. After completion of study therapy, patients are followed periodically.