GSAO in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors That Have Not Responded to Therapy

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed advanced solid tumor

  * Refractory to conventional treatment or for which no conventional therapy exists
* Disease assessable by DCE-MRI and should be of a size that can be adequately assessed by these techniques
* No known primary brain tumors or brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* WHO performance status 0-1
* Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
* Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
* Platelet count ≥ 100 x 10\^9/L
* Neutrophil count ≥ 1.5 x 10\^9/L
* Serum bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN
* Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min (uncorrected value)
* Serum potassium and magnesium normal
* No proteinuria \> grade 1 either on 24-hour urine or on 2 consecutive dipsticks taken no less than 1 week apart
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception 4 weeks prior to, during, and for 6 months after completion of study therapy
* Not at high medical risk due to non-malignant systemic disease, including active uncontrolled infection
* No serologically positive hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV
* No concurrent congestive heart failure or prior NYHA class III-IV cardiac disease
* None of the following medical conditions:

  * Angina (stable or severe, even if well controlled on medication)
  * Myocardial infarction in the past 2 months by ECG
  * Congestive cardiac failure
  * Arrhythmias, including any condition associated with QTc prolongation (e.g., Lange-Neilson syndrome or Romano Ward syndrome)
  * Evidence of ischemia
  * QTc \> 480 msec
  * Other clinically significant abnormalities
* No uncontrolled hypertension (defined as BP consistently greater than 160/100 mm Hg irrespective of medication)
* No other condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would not make the patient a good candidate for this clinical trial
* No pacemakers
* No metal fragments in the eyes or shrapnel or bullet injuries

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Recovered from all prior treatments (except for alopecia or certain grade 1 toxicities which, in the opinion of the investigator and Cancer Research UK, should not exclude the patient)
* At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy (except for palliative reasons), endocrine therapy, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas and mitomycin C)
* At least 1 week since prior and no concurrent shellfish
* At least 6 weeks since prior major surgery (including thoracic and/or abdominal surgery) and recovered
* Concurrent luteinizing-hormone releasing-hormone (LHRH) analogues allowed for patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer provided the prostate-specific antigen level is rising
* No prior heart or brain surgery
* No concurrent drug known to prolong the QTc interval
* No concurrent warfarin (1 mg for maintenance of a Hickman line is acceptable) or heparin (flushing of arterial lines, if necessary, is acceptable)
* No concurrent naproxen (other NSAIDs are acceptable)
* No concurrent prophylactic use of antiemetics during the first treatment

  * Domperidone and lorazepam must not be used as antiemetics
* No other concurrent anticancer therapy or investigational drugs

  * Concurrent bisphosphonates allowed