Donor Peripheral Stem Cell Transplant, Fludarabine, and Busulfan in Treating Patients With Hematologic Cancers

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Diagnosed with any of the following:

  * Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    * Recurrent disease in remission, defined as morphological remission with bone marrow aspirate/biopsy showing ≤ 5% within 4 weeks before the start of study treatment (cytogenetic or molecular remission is not required)
    * In first complete remission (CR1) with poor-risk cytogenetics, antecedent hematological disease (i.e., myelodysplasia), or treatment-related leukemia
  * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    * Recurrent disease in remission, defined as morphological remission with bone marrow aspirate/biopsy showing ≤ 5% within 4 weeks before the start of study treatment (cytogenetic or molecular remission is not required)
    * CR1 with Philadelphia chromosome or poor-risk cytogenetics
  * Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), meeting the following criteria:

    * First or second chronic phase

      * Must be documented disease progression after imatinib mesylate therapy OR documented lack of cytogenetic response 6 months post-imatinib mesylate initiation OR imatinib mesylate intolerance
  * Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), meeting the following criteria:

    * Recurrent disease after fludarabine-based therapy

      * Must have chemosensitive disease at the time of relapse, defined as greater than 50% reduction of WBC and lymphadenopathy
  * Recurrent Hodgkin lymphoma, recurrent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (low-, intermediate-, or high-grade disease\*), or transformed NHL, meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    * Received prior autologous transplantation and cytoreductive therapy at the time of relapse to achieve complete remission (CR) or CR/unconfirmed (CRu) as defined by the International Workshop
    * Relapsed disease that required more than 2 salvage regimens to achieve CR or CRu
  * Recurrent multiple myeloma, meeting the following criteria:

    * Must have received prior autologous transplantation and demonstrate chemosensitivity at the time of relapse, defined as greater than 50% reduction of M-component or plasma-cell marrow infiltration
  * Myelodysplastic syndrome

    * Refractory anemia (RA)/RA with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD)/refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia with ringed sideroblasts (RCMD-RS), or RA with excess blasts (RAEB) I, meeting the following criteria:

      * Must be transfusion-dependent and have an IPSS score ≥ 1.5, based on WHO criteria
      * No RAEB II or del(5q)
* No uncontrolled CNS metastases
* 5-6/6 HLA-matched sibling or 9-10/10 matched unrelated donor (both patient and donor) available

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* Karnofsky performance status ≥ 50%
* Serum creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL
* Not pregnant
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* 50 years of age or older

  * Patients 18-50 years of age are eligible if meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    * Have a preexisting medical condition
    * Received prior therapy (i.e., autologous transplantation) and are considered to be too high risk for conventional myeloablative transplantation
* Must be willing to accept or comprehend irreversible sterility as a side effect of therapy
* No uncontrolled active infection
* No psychiatric illness or mental deficiency making compliance with treatment or informed consent impossible
* Cardiac ejection fraction ≥ 30%
* Corrected pulmonary-diffusing capacity ≥ 35%
* No serologic evidence of infection with HIV
* No decompensated liver disease with serum bilirubin \> 2.0 mg/dL

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics