AT9283 in Children and Adolescents With Relapsed and Refractory Solid Tumors

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed solid tumor meeting 1 of the following criteria:

  * Refractory to conventional treatment
  * Disease for which no conventional therapy exists
* Patients with CNS tumors must be on a stable or decreasing dose of dexamethasone for ≥ 1 week before study entry

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* WHO performance status (PS) 0-2 OR Lansky Play PS 70-100% (\> 50% is acceptable if it is due to a stable neurological deficit or CNS tumor)
* Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
* ANC ≥ 1,000/mm\^3
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
* Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
* Serum bilirubin \< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Creatinine kinase normal
* ALT or AST \< 2.5 times ULN (≤ 5 times ULN if due to tumor)
* Creatinine clearance/EDTA-measured GFR ≥ 60 mL/min
* Sufficient blood volume to undergo the blood-sampling regimen specified by the protocol that, in the opinion of the investigator, will not jeopardize patient's safety
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use 2 methods of effective contraception 4 weeks before, during, and for 6 months after completion of study therapy
* Not at high medical risk because of non-malignant systemic disease, including active uncontrolled infection
* Not known to be serologically positive for hepatitis B or C or HIV
* Fractional shortening of \> 29% on echocardiogram
* LVEF ≥ 50%
* No history of allergy or auto-immune disease
* No congenital heart disease
* No other condition that, in the investigator's opinion, would not make the patient a good candidate for the clinical trial

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Recovered from prior therapy
* More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy (except for palliative reasons), endocrine therapy, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy (6 weeks for investigational medicinal products, 2 weeks for vincristine)
* More than 3 months since prior autologous stem cell transplantation
* No prior allogenic bone marrow transplantation
* No prior extensive radiotherapy to \> 25% of bone marrow
* No prior Aurora kinase inhibitor
* No prior major thoracic or abdominal surgery from which the patient has not yet recovered
* No prior or concurrent participation in another interventional clinical trial

  * Participation in an observational study allowed
* No other concurrent anticancer therapy or investigational drugs