Olaparib in Treating Patients With Advanced Glioma, Cholangiocarcinoma, or Solid Tumors With IDH1 or IDH2 Mutations

Subjects must be able to understand the nature of this trial and provide written informed consent, prior to any study specific procedures; patients with Impaired Decision Making Capacity (IDMC) who have a close caregiver or legally authorized representative (LAR) may be considered eligible for this study at the treating physician's discretion, provided that the physician is reasonably sure that the possible risks and benefits of the study are clear and that the patient will take the drug as prescribed

Subjects must be diagnosed with a glioma, cholangiocarcinoma or other solid malignant tumor that has progressed despite standard therapy, or for which no effective standard therapy exists, with biopsy-confirmed evidence of an IDH1 or IDH2 mutation associated with neomorphic activity of the encoded proteins; patients must have IDH1 or IDH2 mutation which must be detected in a clinical accredited laboratory using a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved molecular test or a validated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based assay conducted in a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified laboratory; only specific mutations that lead to a neomorphic phenotype will be eligible for enrollment, and include IDH1: R132V, R132G, R132S, R132L, R132C and R132H; IDH2: R140W, R140L, R140Q, R172W, R172G, R172S, R172M, R172K

Patients must have tumors determined to be easily accessible for biopsy and must be willing to have serial biopsies (with a third biopsy upon evidence of disease progression); in case of multiple lesions, tumor biopsies will be performed on the most accessible site of disease; all possible precautions to avoid complications will be taken, including discussions in multidisciplinary meetings, if needed; patients affected by glioma will not be considered for study biopsies

Patients must be willing to undergo extra blood sampling for correlative studies

Subjects with extracranial disease must have evaluable disease by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1); subjects affected by glioma must have evaluable disease by Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology Criteria (RANO) criteria

* The disease should be recurrent or transformed glioma; subjects must not have had prior surgery (biopsy allowed) or radiation therapy within 3 weeks of enrollment

* There must be an enhancing component of disease, as evaluated on pre-treatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

* For patients with World Health Organization (WHO) grade III or IV glioma and progressive disease \< 12 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy, progression can be defined by the following set of criteria:

* New enhancement outside of the radiation field (beyond the high-dose region or 80% isodose line)

* If there is unequivocal evidence of viable tumor on histopathologic sampling (e.g., solid tumor areas. i.e., \> 70% tumor cell nuclei in areas), high or progressive increase in MIB-1 proliferation index compared with prior biopsy, or evidence for histologic progression or increased anaplasia in tumor);

* Note: Given the difficulty of differentiating true progression from pseudoprogression, clinical decline alone, in the absence of radiographic or histologic confirmation of progression, will not be sufficient for definition of progressive disease in the first 12 weeks after completion of concurrent chemoradiotherapy

* For patients with WHO grade III or IV glioma and progressive disease \>= 12 weeks after completion of chemoradiotherapy, progression can be defined by the following set of criteria:

* New contrast-enhancing lesion outside of radiation field on decreasing, stable, or increasing doses of corticosteroids

* Increase by \>= 25% in the sum of the products of perpendicular diameters between the first post-radiotherapy scan, or a subsequent scan with smaller tumor size, and the scan at 12 weeks or later on stable or increasing doses of corticosteroids

* For patients receiving antiangiogenic therapy, significant increase in T2/fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) non-enhancing lesion may also be considered progressive disease; the increased T2/FLAIR must have occurred with the patient on stable or increasing doses of corticosteroids compared with baseline scan or best response after initiation of therapy and not be a result of comorbid events (e.g., effects of radiation therapy, demyelination, ischemic injury, infection, seizures, postoperative changes, or other treatment effects)

* Note: Clinical deterioration alone is not attributable to concurrent medication or comorbid conditions is sufficient to declare progression on current treatment but not for entry onto a clinical trial for recurrence

* For patients with WHO grade II glioma progression is defined by any one of the following:

* Development of new lesions or increase of enhancement (radiological evidence of malignant transformation)

* A 25% increase of the T2 or FLAIR non-enhancing lesion on stable or increasing doses of corticosteroids compared with baseline scan or best response after initiation of therapy, not attributable to radiation effect or to comorbid events

For subject with extracranial disease, they must have at least one lesion, not previously irradiated, that can be accurately measured at baseline as \>= 10 mm in the longest diameter (except lymph nodes which must have short axis \>= 15 mm) with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or \>= 10 mm with calipers by clinical exam OR at least one lesion (measurable and/or non-measurable) that can be accurately assessed by CT/MRI/clinical exam at baseline and follow up visits

Subjects must have progressive cancer at the time of study entry; prior experimental (non-FDA approved) therapies (other than drugs that share the same target) and immunotherapies are allowed; patients must not have received these therapies for 30 days or five half-lives of the drug (whichever is less) prior to the initiation of study treatment; toxicities from these therapies should have recovered to =\< grade 1, with the exception of stable chronic grade 2 that is not overlapping with presumed toxicities of olaparib

Female/male of age \>= 18 years. This is because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of olaparib in patients \< 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study, but will be eligible for future pediatric trials

Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0-2 (Karnofsky \>= 50%)

Hemoglobin \>= 10.0 g/dL with no blood transfusion in the past 28 days (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1.5 x 10\^9/L (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Platelet count \>= 100 x 10\^9/L (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 x institutional upper limit of normal unless liver metastases are present in which case they must be =\< 5 x ULN (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Creatinine clearance estimated using the actual body weight and Cockcroft-Gault equation of \>= 51 mL/min (within 28 days prior to administration of study treatment)

Patients must have a life expectancy \>= 16 weeks

Patient is willing and able to comply with the protocol for the duration of the study including undergoing treatment and scheduled visits and examinations including follow up

No previous treatment with the specific assigned study drug or any other PARP inhibitor

Prior radiation therapy is allowed; patients must not have received radiation therapy within 3 weeks prior to the initiation of study treatment

Women of child-bearing potential are expected to use highly effective contraception during the study and for 1 month after the last dose of study drug; postmenopausal or evidence of non-childbearing status for women of childbearing potential: negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 28 days of study treatment and confirmed prior to treatment on day 1; postmenopausal is defined as one or more of the following:

* Amenorrheic for 1 year or more following cessation of exogenous hormonal treatments

* Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels in the post-menopausal range for women under 50

* Radiation-induced oophorectomy with last menses \> 1 year ago

* Chemotherapy-induced menopause with \> 1 year interval since last menses

* Surgical sterilization (bilateral oophorectomy or hysterectomy)

Male patients and their partners, who are sexually active and of childbearing potential, must agree to the use of two highly effective forms of contraception in combination, throughout the period of taking study treatment and for 3 months after last dose of study drug(s) to prevent pregnancy in a partner

What this study is about