Trebananib in Treating Younger Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Solid Tumors, Including Central Nervous System Tumors

Part 1: Patients must have had histologic verification of non-CNS solid tumor malignancy at original diagnosis or relapse

Part 2: Patients must have had histologic verification of CNS malignancy at original diagnosis or relapse except in patients with intrinsic brain stem tumors, optic pathway gliomas, or patients with pineal tumors and elevations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or serum tumor markers including alpha-fetoprotein or beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG)

Patients must have either measurable or evaluable disease

Patient's current disease state must be one for which there is no known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life

Karnofsky \>= 50% for patients \> 16 years of age and Lansky \>= 50% for patients =\< 16 years of age; Note: neurologic deficits in patients with CNS tumors (Part 2 of the study) must have been relatively stable for at least 7 days prior to study enrollment; patients who are unable to walk because of paralysis, but who are up in a wheelchair, will be considered ambulatory for the purpose of assessing the performance score

Patients must have fully recovered from the acute toxic effects of all prior anti-cancer chemotherapy

* Myelosuppressive chemotherapy: at least 21 days after the last dose of myelosuppressive chemotherapy (42 days if prior nitrosourea)

* Hematopoietic growth factors: at least 14 days after the last dose of a long-acting growth factor (e.g. Neulasta) or 7 days for short-acting growth factor; for agents that have known adverse events occurring beyond 7 days after administration, this period must be extended beyond the time during which adverse events are known to occur; the duration of this interval must be discussed with the study chair

* Biologic (anti-neoplastic agent): at least 7 days after the last dose of a biologic agent; for agents that have known adverse events occurring beyond 7 days after administration, this period must be extended beyond the time during which adverse events are known to occur; the duration of this interval must be discussed with the study chair

* Immunotherapy: at least 42 days after the completion of any type of immunotherapy, e.g. tumor vaccines

* Monoclonal antibodies: at least 3 half-lives of the antibody after the last dose of a monoclonal antibody

* Radiation therapy (XRT): at least 14 days after local palliative XRT (small port); at least 150 days must have elapsed if prior total-body irradiation (TBI), craniospinal XRT or if \>= 50% radiation of pelvis; at least 42 days must have elapsed if other substantial bone marrow (BM) radiation

* Stem cell infusion without TBI: no evidence of active graft vs host disease and at least 56 days must have elapsed after transplant or stem cell infusion

Peripheral absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1000/mm\^3

Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3 (transfusion independent, defined as not receiving platelet transfusions for at least 7 days prior to enrollment

Patients with known bone marrow metastatic disease will be eligible for study provided they meet the required blood counts (may receive transfusions provided they are not known to be refractory to red cell or platelet transfusions)

Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate (GFR) \>= 70 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 or a serum creatinine based on age/gender as follows:

* 0.6 mg/dL (1 to \< 2 years of age)

* 0.8 mg/dL (2 to \< 6 years of age)

* 1.0 mg/dL (6 to \< 10 years of age)

* 1.2 mg/dL (10 to \< 13 years of age)

* 1.5 mg/dL (male) or 1.4 mg/dL (female) (13 to \< 16 years of age)

* 1.7 mg/dL (male) or 1.4 mg/dL (female) (\>= 16 years of age)

Urine protein: =\< 30 mg/dL in urinalysis or =\< 1+ on dipstick, unless quantitative protein is \< 1,000 mg in a 24-hour urine sample

Bilirubin (sum of conjugated + unconjugated) =\< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) for age

Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) (alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\]) =\< 110 U/L; for the purpose of this study, the ULN for SGPT is 45 U/L

Serum albumin \>= 2 g/dL

Shortening fraction of \>= 27% by echocardiogram OR ejection fraction of \>= 50% by gated radionuclide study

No known cardiac disease

No history of myocardial infarction, severe or unstable angina, peripheral vascular disease or familial corrected QT (QTc) prolongation

Patients with seizure disorder may be enrolled if on anticonvulsants and well controlled

Nervous system disorders (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4 \[CTCAE v 4\]) resulting from prior therapy must be =\< grade 2

For Part 2 only: No evidence of new CNS hemorrhage defined as more than punctate size and/or more than three foci of punctate hemorrhage on baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) obtained within 14 days prior to study enrollment

No evidence of active bleeding

Prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) =\< 1.2 x upper limit of normal (ULN) and an international normalized ratio (INR) =\< 1.2

A blood pressure (BP) =\< the 95th percentile for age, height, and gender, and not receiving medication for treatment of hypertension

All patients and/or their parents or legally authorized representatives must sign a written informed consent; assent, when appropriate, will be obtained according to institutional guidelines

What this study is about