Everolimus and Gefitinib in Treating Patients With Progressive Glioblastoma Multiforme or Progressive Metastatic Prostate Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  * Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) (phase I only)

    * Progressive disease despite standard therapy
    * Progressive disease based on 1 of the following:

      * New or progressive (25% bidimensional increase) soft tissue masses on CT scan or MRI
      * New or prior lesions that have increased in size by physical examination
    * Patients who had prior interstitial brachytherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery must have confirmation of true disease progression (rather than radiation necrosis) by positron-emission tomography scan, thallium scanning, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or surgical documentation
  * Castrate metastatic prostate cancer (closed to accrual as of 10/19/2006) (phase I and II)

    * Progressive disease despite standard therapy AND castrate levels \< 50 ng/dL of testosterone
    * Progressive disease based on 1 or more of the following:

      * A minimum of 3 rising levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) that are obtained 1 or more weeks apart OR 2 rising PSA values obtained more than 1 month apart with at least a 25% increase over the range of values
      * New or progressive (25% bidimensional increase) soft tissue masses on CT scan or MRI
      * New metastatic lesions
    * Patients on an antiandrogen as part of initial therapy must show disease progression after discontinuation of the antiandrogen
    * Patients who have not undergone surgical orchiectomy must continue with medical therapy (e.g., gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs) to maintain castrate levels of serum testosterone
* No brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* Over 18

Performance status

* Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy

* More than 3 months

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
* WBC ≥ 3,000/mm\^3

Hepatic

* ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL

Renal

* Creatinine within 1.5 times ULN (\< 1.95 mg/dL at MSKCC)

Cardiovascular

* No significant cardiovascular disease
* No congestive heart failure
* No New York Heart Association class III or IV cardiac disease
* No active angina pectoris
* No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months

Other

* Not pregnant
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No serious medical illness
* No severe infection
* No severe malnutrition
* No other active malignancy except non-melanoma skin cancer

  * Patients are not considered to have an active malignancy if they have completed prior therapy and currently have a \< 30% risk for relapse

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* No concurrent biological therapy
* No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy

* No concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

* See Disease Characteristics

Radiotherapy

* See Disease Characteristics
* More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
* No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

* See Disease Characteristics
* Prior recent resection of recurrent or progressive GBM allowed provided patient has recovered
* More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery

Other

* Recovered from all prior therapy
* More than 4 weeks since prior investigational anticancer drugs
* No concurrent anticonvulsant that interacts with CYP3A4 (e.g., phenytoin, carbamazepine, or phenobarbital)
* No other concurrent cytotoxic therapy
* No other concurrent investigational or commercial agents or therapies for the malignancy