GSAO in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors That Have Not Responded to Therapy

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed advanced solid tumor
• Refractory to conventional treatment or for which no conventional therapy exists
• Disease assessable by DCE-MRI and should be of a size that can be adequately assessed by these techniques
• No known primary brain tumors or brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• WHO performance status 0-1
• Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
• Platelet count ≥ 100 x 10^9/L
• Neutrophil count ≥ 1.5 x 10^9/L
• Serum bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min (uncorrected value)
• Serum potassium and magnesium normal
• No proteinuria > grade 1 either on 24-hour urine or on 2 consecutive dipsticks taken no less than 1 week apart
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception 4 weeks prior to, during, and for 6 months after completion of study therapy
• Not at high medical risk due to non-malignant systemic disease, including active uncontrolled infection
• No serologically positive hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV
• No concurrent congestive heart failure or prior NYHA class III-IV cardiac disease
• None of the following medical conditions:
• Angina (stable or severe, even if well controlled on medication)
• Myocardial infarction in the past 2 months by ECG
• Congestive cardiac failure
• Arrhythmias, including any condition associated with QTc prolongation (e.g., Lange-Neilson syndrome or Romano Ward syndrome)
• Evidence of ischemia
• QTc > 480 msec
• Other clinically significant abnormalities
• No uncontrolled hypertension (defined as BP consistently greater than 160/100 mm Hg irrespective of medication)
• No other condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would not make the patient a good candidate for this clinical trial
• No pacemakers
• No metal fragments in the eyes or shrapnel or bullet injuries

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from all prior treatments (except for alopecia or certain grade 1 toxicities which, in the opinion of the investigator and Cancer Research UK, should not exclude the patient)
• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy (except for palliative reasons), endocrine therapy, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas and mitomycin C)
• At least 1 week since prior and no concurrent shellfish
• At least 6 weeks since prior major surgery (including thoracic and/or abdominal surgery) and recovered
• Concurrent luteinizing-hormone releasing-hormone (LHRH) analogues allowed for patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer provided the prostate-specific antigen level is rising
• No prior heart or brain surgery
• No concurrent drug known to prolong the QTc interval
• No concurrent warfarin (1 mg for maintenance of a Hickman line is acceptable) or heparin (flushing of arterial lines, if necessary, is acceptable)
• No concurrent naproxen (other NSAIDs are acceptable)
• No concurrent prophylactic use of antiemetics during the first treatment
• Domperidone and lorazepam must not be used as antiemetics
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy or investigational drugs
• Concurrent bisphosphonates allowed