Tipifarnib and Etoposide in Treating Older Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria:

Adults age with established, pathologically confirmed diagnoses of newly diagnosed AML, including de novo and secondary AMLs but excluding newly diagnosed acute progranulocytic leukemia (APL, M3), will be considered eligible for study
ECOG performance status 0-2
Patient must be able to give informed consent
Serum creatinine =< 2.0 mg/dl
SGOT and SGPT =< 5 x upper limit normal (ULN)
Bilirubin =< 2 mg/dl

Disease-specific criteria:

Newly diagnosed AML, subtypes M0,1,2,4-7 but excluding M3 (APL), including myelodysplasia (MDS)-related AML (MDS/AML) and treatment-related AML
Patients who have received hydroxyurea alone or have received non-cytotoxic therapies previously for MDS (e.g., thalidomide, interferon, cytokines, 5-azacytidine) will be eligible for this trial

Exclusion Criteria:

Any previous treatment with R115777 or VP-16
Patients receiving concomitant chemotherapy, radiation therapy or immunotherapy
Hyperleukocytosis with >= 30,000 blasts/uL or rapidly rising blast count with projected doubling time of =< 2 days
Acute progranulocytic leukemia (APL,M3)
Active CNS leukemia
Active, uncontrolled infection; patients with infection under active treatment and controlled with antibiotics are eligible
Presence of other life-threatening illness
Patients with mental deficits and/or psychiatric history that preclude them from giving informed consent or from following protocol
Patients on enzyme-inducing anti-convulsants (e.g., phenytoin, fosphenytoin, phenobarbital, primidone, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine); patients may be changed to non-enzyme inducing anti-convulsants and stabilized before starting study treatment