Genetically Modified Stem Cells and Irinotecan Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Recurrent High-Grade Gliomas

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patient has a prior, histologically-confirmed, diagnosis of a grade III or IV glioma (including glioblastoma, anaplastic astrocytoma, gliosarcoma, anaplastic oligodendroglioma, or anaplastic oligoastrocytoma), or has a prior, histologically-confirmed, diagnosis of a grade II glioma and now has radiographic findings consistent with a high-grade glioma (grade III or IV)
* Imaging studies show evidence of recurrent, supratentorial tumor(s)
* Patient's high-grade glioma has recurred or progressed after prior treatment with brain radiation and temozolomide
* Patient has a Karnofsky performance status of \>= 70%
* Patient has a life expectancy of \>= 3 months
* Female patients of childbearing potential and sexually-active male patients must agree to use an effective method of contraception while participating in this study; women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test =\< 2 weeks prior to registration
* PROTOCOL-SPECIFIC CRITERIA
* Patient must be in need of a craniotomy for tumor resection or a stereotactic brain biopsy for the purpose of diagnosis or differentiating between tumor progression versus treatment-induced effects following radiation therapy ± chemotherapy
* Patients who will undergo tumor resection must have residual enhancing tumor (i.e. a gross total resection is not anticipated)
* Based on the neurosurgeon's judgment, there is no anticipated physical connection between the post-resection tumor cavity and the cerebral ventricles
* Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of \>= 1500 cells/mm\^3
* Platelet count \>= 100,000 cells/mm\^3
* Total bilirubin =\< 2.0 mg/dl
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\]) =\< 4 times the institutional upper limit of normal
* Serum creatinine =\< the institutional upper limit of normal
* There is no limit to the number of prior therapies
* Patient must be able to understand and be willing to sign a written informed consent document
* INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR MTD COHORT 2
* Patient has a prior, histopathologically-confirmed diagnosis of glioblastoma
* Patient has not received any therapy for recurrent disease
* INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PROCEEDING TO TREATMENT WITH IRINOTECAN DURING CYCLE 1
* A patient's daily total dose of dexamethasone must be =\< 16 mg by day 3

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patient is homozygous or heterozygous for the UDP glycosyltransferase 1 family, polypeptide A1\*28 allele (UGT 1A1\*28) allele and/or has Gilbert's disease
* Patient must not be taking any cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) hepatic enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants (phenytoin, fosphenytoin \[Cerebyx\], carbamazepine, phenobarbital, primidone, oxcarbazepine) or other moderate to strong CYP3A4 inhibitors or inducers for at least 2 weeks prior to start of study treatment
* Patient has anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies specific for HLA antigens expressed by the F3.CD.CE NSCs
* Patient has not recovered from any toxicity of prior therapies; an interval of at least 6 weeks must have elapsed since taking a nitrosourea-containing chemotherapy regimen, at least 4 weeks since completing a non-nitrosourea-containing cytotoxic chemotherapy regimen, and at least 2 weeks from taking the last dose of a targeted agent and the start of study treatment, with the exception of bevacizumab, where a wash out period of at least 4 weeks is required before starting study treatment
* Patient is taking flucytosine
* Patient is unable to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
* Patient has chronic or active viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) or an uncontrolled illness
* Patient may not be receiving any other investigational agents, or concurrent biological, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy
* History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to irinotecan
* Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is participating in this study
* A patient with another active malignancy is ineligible for this study
* Non-compliance