RFT5-dgA Immunotoxin in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Cutaneous T-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed cutaneous T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (CTCL)
* Relapsed or refractory disease, meeting 1 of the following criteria:

  * Progression of disease following 2 prior chemotherapies
  * Failure to respond to the second prior chemotherapy
* Measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* ECOG performance status 0-2
* Life expectancy \> 3 months
* Serum creatinine \< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Serum AST/ALT \< 2.5 times ULN
* Total bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (\< 3.0 mg/dL in patients with Gilbert syndrome)
* WBC count ≥ 3,000/mm³
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
* Serum albumin \> 2.5 g/dL
* LVEF ≥ 45% by 2-D ECHO or MUGA scan
* Human antimurine antibody \< 1 μg/mL
* Patients with a history of electrocardiogram abnormalities, symptoms of cardiac ischemia, or arrhythmias must have a normal cardiac stress test (i.e., stress thallium, stress MUGA, dobutamine echocardiogram, or other stress test)
* Must be willing to undergo venipuncture and central line placement
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No HBV surface antigen, HCV, or HIV antibody positivity
* No autoimmune disease or immunodeficiency (i.e., HIV)
* No history of uncontrolled concurrent illness including, but not limited to, any of the following:

  * Ongoing or active infection
  * Ongoing or active cardiac disease (i.e., congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, or cardiac arrhythmia)
  * Psychiatric illness and/or social situation that would preclude study compliance
* No other malignancies except treated basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* More than 3 weeks since prior systemic therapy for CTCL
* More than 6 months since prior chronic steroid therapy or chronic anti-coagulation therapy
* No prior therapy with anti-CD25 immunotoxin IMTOX25 and/or Ontak
* No other concurrent cancer chemotherapy, experimental therapy, investigational agent, or immunomodulating agent (including steroids)