Tivantinib in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Breast Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate the activity of tivantinib (ARQ-197) as defined by 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) of participants with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate objective response based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 criteria. II. To evaluate c-Met and phospho c-Met expression in archival tumor tissue. (Exploratory) III. To evaluate the incidence of c-Met-positive circulating tumor cells at baseline. (Exploratory) IV. To evaluate the effect of ARQ-197 on serum markers relevant to c-Met pathway (hepatocyte growth factor \[HGF\] and vascular endothelial growth factor \[VEGF\]). (Exploratory) V. To evaluate phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) loss and PI3K mutations in archival tumor tissue. (Exploratory) VI. To evaluate proportion of participants with basal-like breast cancer. (Exploratory) OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive tivantinib orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo blood sample collection at baseline and periodically during study for c-Met expression, relevant markers (HGF and VEGF), PTEN loss, and PI3K mutation analysis by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Archived tumor tissue samples are also analyzed. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 6 months.