Tipifarnib and Gemcitabine Hydrochloride in Treating Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

* Histologically confirmed breast cancer and clinical evidence of metastatic disease
* Patients may have received any number or type of hormonal therapies, either for stage IV disease and/or as adjuvant therapy; patients may have received trastuzumab therapy
* Patients may have received up to 2 prior chemotherapy regimens as therapy for metastatic breast cancer; patients must have recovered from the myelosuppressive effects of prior chemotherapy and all toxicity must have recovered to grade less than or equal to 1
* Concomitant bisphosphonates are allowed for patients with bone metastases
* Localized radiotherapy that does not influence the single evaluable lesion is allowed prior to the initiation of therapy; patients must have recovered from the myelosuppressive effects of previous radiotherapy (at least 4 weeks)
* Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \> 20 mm with conventional techniques or as \> 10 mm with spiral computed tomography (CT) scan
* Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status less than or equal to 2 (Karnofsky \> 60%)
* Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL
* Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
* Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 × institutional upper limit of normal
* Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal
* Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
* Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
* There should be a four-week delay between the conclusion of radiation and the start of gemcitabine, provided the acute effects of radiation treatment have resolved

Exclusion Criteria:

* Prior therapy with farnesyltransferase inhibitor or gemcitabine for metastatic breast cancer
* Patients with leptomeningeal disease and/or brain metastasis
* Patients with symptomatic lymphangitic pulmonary metastases
* Patients with peripheral neuropathy greater than or equal to grade 2
* No history of concomitant malignancy except for non-melanoma skin cancer or cervical cancer in situ or other malignancy treated curatively and no evidence of disease for at least five years
* Patients who have had chemotherapy within 2 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier
* Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents
* History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to tipifarnib (R115777), or imidazole derivatives
* Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
* Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients receiving combination anti-retroviral therapy are excluded from the study