Alvocidib in Treating Patients With Metastatic or Unresectable Refractory Solid Tumors or Hematologic Malignancies

Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed malignancy, including the following types:

  * Hematologic malignancy, including any of the following: (Accrual for patients with hematologic malignancies temporarily closed as of 11/30/04)
  * Mantle cell lymphoma
  * Morphologically confirmed disease
  * CD20 and CD5 positive
  * Any other refractory lymphoma
  * Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
* Rai stage III or IV and meeting at least 1 of the following criteria for active disease:

  * Weight loss \> 10% in the last 6 months
  * Fatigue
  * Fever or night sweats with no evidence of infection
  * Progressive anemia or thrombocytopenia
  * Progressive lymphocytosis with a lymphocyte doubling time of \< 6 months
  * Marked hypogammaglobulinemia or paraproteinemia
  * Progressive splenomegaly and/or lymphadenopathy
  * Multiple myeloma
  * Disease confirmed by bone marrow aspirate and/or biopsy
  * Relapsed or refractory disease after the most recent treatment regimen
  * Quantifiable monoclonal immunoglobulin in serum and/or urine
* Solid tumor, including but not limited to any of the following:

  * Breast cancer
  * Histologically or cytologically confirmed stage IV invasive disease
  * HER-2 positivity not required for study enrollment
  * Tumor overexpressing HER-2 should be confirmed by immunohistochemistry OR fluorescence in situ hybridization
  * Small cell lung cancer
  * Extensive stage or limited stage disease in relapse
  * Extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma allowed
  * Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
  * Metastatic, recurrent, or refractory disease
  * Renal cell carcinoma
  * Mesothelioma
  * Pleural or peritoneal disease of epithelial, sarcomatoid, or mixed subtype
  * Melanoma
  * Kaposi's sarcoma
  * Metastatic or unresectable disease for which standard therapy does not exist or is no longer effective
  * Measurable or nonmeasurable disease (solid tumor patients)
  * Measurable disease defined as at least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques or 10 mm by spiral CT scan
* Nonmeasurable disease includes any of the following:

  * All other lesions, including lesions \< 20 mm by conventional techniques or 10 mm by spiral CT scan
  * Bone lesions
  * Cytologically positive pleural or peritoneal disease
  * Elevated tumor marker (e.g., CEA, CA 125, CA 19-9, or other tumor marker)
  * Multinodular or confluent nonmeasurable pulmonary, hepatic, adrenal, intra-abdominal, or skin metastases
  * Previously treated with at least 1 chemotherapy regimen\*
  * Prior therapy may have included combined modality treatment (e.g., full-dose chemotherapy and radiotherapy with radiosensitizing chemotherapy)
  * Prior therapy with flavopiridol allowed provided the patient was enrolled in a flavopiridol clinical trial employing a different schedule NOTE: \*Except in cases where chemotherapy is not known to be effective (e.g., renal cell carcinoma, chondrosarcoma, or gastrointestinal stromal tumor)
  * No active CNS metastases
* History of CNS metastases allowed provided all of the following criteria are met:

  * Previously treated and stable and asymptomatic for at least 4 weeks since the completion of treatment
  * Image documentation required
  * Off steroids or on a stable dose of steroids for at least 1 week
* Hormone receptor status:

  * Not specified
* Age

  * 18 and over
* Sex

  * Male or female
* Menopausal status

  * Not specified
* Performance status

  * ECOG 0-1 OR
  * Karnofsky 70-100%
* Life expectancy

  * More than 12 weeks
* Hematopoietic

  * Absolute neutrophil count \> 1,000/mm\^3\*
  * Platelet count \> 75,000/mm\^3 (50,000 for hematologic malignancies)\* (Accrual for patients with hematologic malignancies temporarily closed as of 11/30/04) NOTE: \*Unless abnormality is caused by tumor burden and not cumulative prior chemotherapy
* Hepatic

  * Bilirubin normal
  * AST/ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) (5 times ULN if liver metastases are present)
* Renal

  * Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL OR
  * Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min
* Cardiovascular

  * No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
  * No unstable angina within the past 6 months
  * No transient ischemic attack or cerebrovascular accident within the past 6 months
  * No history of arterial vascular events
  * No new cardiac arrhythmias likely to be related to cardiac ischemia within the past 6 months
  * No symptomatic congestive heart failure
* Pulmonary

  * No history of pulmonary embolism within the past 6 months
* Gastrointestinal

  * No chronic diarrheal disease within the past 6 months
  * No severe malnutrition
  * No intractable emesis
* Other

  * Not pregnant or nursing
  * Negative pregnancy test
  * Fertile patients must use effective hormonal or barrier contraception
  * No ongoing or active infection
  * No other concurrent uncontrolled illness
  * No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
* At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin)
* At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy No prior radiotherapy to 50% or more of bone marrow
* Recovered from all prior therapy No other concurrent investigational agents No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients