Sorafenib and Paclitaxel in Treating Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Primary * To evaluate the efficacy of sorafenib tosylate and paclitaxel by measuring tumor response, as defined by RECIST criteria, in patients with metastatic, HER2-negative breast cancer. Secondary * To evaluate time to disease progression in patients treated with this regimen. * To evaluate six-month progression-free survival of patients treated with this regimen. * To evaluate time to treatment failure in patients treated with this regimen. * To evaluate clinical benefit rate (tumor response and stable disease) at 24 weeks in patients treated with this regimen. * To evaluate duration of response in patients treated with this regimen. * To evaluate the tolerability of this regimen in these patients. * To examine the relationship of gene expression and tissue/serum protein markers, where available, related to response to therapy focusing on growth factor receptor pathways. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive oral sorafenib tosylate twice daily on days 1-28 and paclitaxel IV over 1 hour on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed at 4 weeks.