Tivantinib in Treating Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •Patients must have histologically documented adenocarcinoma of the prostate with progressive systemic disease (either rising PSA or progression of disease on CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging \[MRI\] or bone scan) despite castrate levels of testosterone due to orchiectomy or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist or antagonist; castrate levels of testosterone must be maintained throughout the study
• •Evidence of metastatic disease on CT or bone imaging
• •Patients must have demonstrated evidence of progressive disease since the most recent change in therapy; progressive disease is defined as any one of the following (measurable disease, bone scan, or PSA progression):
• •* Measurable disease progression: objective evidence of increase \> 20% in the sum of the longest diameters (LD) of target lesions from the time of maximal regression or the appearance of one or more new lesions
• •* Bone scan progression: appearance of two or more new lesions on bone scan attributable to prostate cancer will constitute progression
• •* PSA progression: two successive rises from baseline PSA separated at least by one week with the last value \>= 2 ng/mL
• •Asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic from prostate cancer - no symptoms attributed to prostate cancer greater than grade I using NCI CTCAE version 4.0 grading of toxicities
• •Secondary hormonal therapies (e.g., abiraterone acetate, flutamide, estrogen) must be discontinued for at least 4 weeks prior to study enrollment unless the duration of the therapy was less than 8 weeks and there was no demonstrated decrease in PSA
• •Secondary hormonal therapies with bicalutamide or nilutamide must be discontinued for 6 weeks unless duration of therapy was less than 8 weeks and there was no demonstrated PSA decrease
• •Prior abiraterone (or investigational anti-androgen) use is allowed; these too will need to be discontinued at least 4 weeks prior to study enrollment
• •PSA prior to treatment must be \>= 2 ng/ml
• •Castrate testosterone level (\< 50 ng/dL)
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%)
• •No prior chemotherapy unless utilized in neoadjuvant/adjuvant setting and must have completed \> 6 months prior to enrollment
• •Four weeks since major surgery or radiation therapy
• •Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL
• •Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
• •Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits
• •Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.0 X institutional upper limit of normal
• •Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 40 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal
• •Patients must have signed an informed consent document stating that they understand the investigational nature of the proposed treatment
• •Men and any female partners of child-bearing potential must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation and for additional 2 months after finishing therapy; should a patient's sexual partner become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while patient is participating in this study, he should inform the treating physician immediately
• •Bisphosphonate or denosumab therapy is permitted provided patients began therapy prior to registration and that they continue them as per the manufacturer's guidelines and/or per institutional practice; patients not taking ongoing bisphosphonate or denosumab therapy will not be permitted to start such therapy until they have completed 12 weeks of study treatment
• •Patients must be able to swallow pills to participate in the study