Early Administration of ATG Followed by Cyclophosphamide, Busulfan and Fludarabine Before a Donor Stem Cell Transplant in Patients With Hematological Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed diagnosis of one of the following:

  * Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)

    * Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)- and/or BCR-ABL-positive disease
    * In chronic or accelerated phase
    * Suboptimal response to imatinib mesylate (i.e., no hematologic complete response by 3 months, no major cytogenetic response by 6 months, or no complete cytogenetic response by 1 year)
    * CML in blastic transformation allowed provided patient achieved complete remission (CR) or second chronic phase after treatment with imatinib mesylate or chemotherapy
  * Chronic lymphocytic leukemia meeting one of the following criteria:

    * Rai stage III or IV disease
    * Rai stage I or II disease that failed standard therapy (i.e., disease is progressing after ≥ 1 course of standard therapy)
  * Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) meeting one of the following criteria:

    * Indolent NHL

      * Clinical stage III or IV disease or bulky stage II disease (i.e., ≥ one lymphoid mass \> 5 cm in ≥ one dimension)
      * Relapsed after primary therapy OR is refractory to therapy
    * Aggressive NHL

      * Is not considered curable with standard chemotherapy or autologous stem cell transplantation (i.e., relapsed after autologous stem cell transplantation)
      * Chemotherapy-responsive disease
  * Multiple myeloma

    * Durie-Salmon stage II or III disease

      * Durie Salmon stage I disease allowed provided β2 microglobulin level \> 3 mg/dL
  * Acute myeloid leukemia or acute lymphocytic leukemia

    * In CR (defined as \< 5% blasts in bone marrow and no circulating blasts) AND has any of the following poor prognostic features:

      * WBC \> 100,000/mm\^3 at presentation
      * In second or greater remission
      * Adverse-risk cytogenetics (i.e., Ph1-positive, 11q23 translocation, -5, -7, complex translocations, or other recognized adverse-risk cytogenetics)
  * Renal cell carcinoma

    * Stage IV disease
    * Clear cell morphology
  * Myelodysplastic syndromes

    * Bone marrow blasts ≤ 10% on last bone marrow biopsy prior to transplantation
  * Myeloproliferative disease

    * Anticipated life expectancy on conventional therapy \< 10 years
    * No uncomplicated essential thrombocythemia or primary polycythemia
  * Hodgkin lymphoma

    * Relapsed after ≥ 1 standard-dose chemotherapy regimen
    * Not considered curable by autologous stem cell transplantation
* No clinical evidence of active CNS involvement

  * Previously treated leptomeningeal disease allowed provided CSF cytology is negative at the time of assessment for transplantation
* Available 6/6 allele match (i.e., HLA-A, B, DRβ1)matched related donor

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* ECOG performance status (PS) 0-2 OR Karnofsky PS 60-100%
* Bilirubin \< 3 times normal (unless abnormality due to malignancy)
* AST and ALT \< 3 times normal (unless abnormality due to malignancy)
* Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
* LVEF ≥ 40% by MUGA or ECHO
* DLCO ≥ 40% of predicted
* FEV-1 ≥ 50% of predicted
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* Deemed to be an appropriate candidate for allogeneic SCT
* No evidence of myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
* No psychological or social condition that may interfere with study participation
* No serious uncontrolled localized or active systemic infection
* No second malignancy within the past 3 years except for completely excised nonmelanotic skin cancer or in situ carcinoma of the cervix
* No chronic inflammatory disorder requiring the continued use of glucocorticoids or other immunosuppressive medications
* No known HIV positivity
* No hypersensitivity to E. coli-derived proteins