Bortezomib in Treating Young Patients With Refractory or Recurrent Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria:

Histologically confirmed leukemia of 1 of the following types:

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis
Relapsed or refractory disease
Immunophenotypically confirmed disease, either at initial diagnosis or relapse
More than 25% blasts in the bone marrow (M3 bone marrow)
Active extramedullary disease (except leptomeningeal disease) allowed
No known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life available
Performance status - Karnofsky 50-100% (for patients age 11 to 21)
Performance status - Lansky 50-100% (for patients age 10 and under)
Platelet count ≥ 20,000/mm^3*
Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL*
WBC < 20,000/mm^3** (hydroxyurea for cytoreduction allowed)
No hyperleukocytosis (i.e., WBC > 100,000/mm^3)
Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
ALT ≤ 5 times ULN
Albumin ≥ 2 g/dL
Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate ≥ 70 mL/min

Creatinine based on age as follows:

≤ 0.8 mg/dL for patients age 5 and under
≤ 1.0 mg/dL for patients age 6 to 10
≤ 1.2 mg/dL for patients age 11 to 15
≤ 1.5 mg/dL for patients age 16 to 21
Not pregnant or nursing
Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
No uncontrolled infection
Recovered from prior immunotherapy
At least 7 days since prior filgrastim (G-CSF) or sargramostim (GM-CSF)
At least 7 days since prior biologic agents
At least 3 months since prior stem cell transplantation or rescue and no evidence of active graft-versus-host disease
No concurrent prophylactic G-CSF during course 1 of study
No concurrent immunotherapy
No concurrent biologic therapy
Recovered from prior chemotherapy
At least 24 hours since prior hydroxyurea for cytoreduction
At least 6 weeks since prior nitrosoureas
No concurrent chemotherapy
At least 7 days since prior steroids (except as premedication prior to blood product transfusion)
Recovered from prior radiotherapy
At least 2 weeks since prior small port local palliative radiotherapy
At least 3 months since prior total body irradiation, craniospinal irradiation, or irradiation to more than 50% of the pelvis
At least 6 weeks since other prior substantial bone marrow radiotherapy
No concurrent radiotherapy
At least 7 days since prior retinoids
No other concurrent investigational agents
No other concurrent anticancer agents

No concurrent anticonvulsant medications known to activate the cytochrome p450 system (e.g., phenytoin, carbamazepine, or phenobarbital)

Concurrent benzodiazepines and gabapentin are allowed