Ixabepilone in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Persistent Uterine Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the response rate of ixabepilone in patients with persistent or recurrent carcinosarcoma of the uterus. II. To determine the nature and degree of toxicity of ixabepilone in this cohort of patients. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the duration of progression-free survival and overall survival. TERTIARY OBJECTIVES: I. To examine the expression of class III beta-tubulin in carcinosarcoma of the uterus. II. To explore the association between class III beta-tubulin expression in carcinosarcoma of the uterus and response, progression-free and overall survival. OUTLINE: Patients receive ixabepilone IV over 3 hours on day 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study therapy, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 3 years.