Paclitaxel With or Without Cixutumumab as Second-Line Therapy in Treating Patients With Metastatic Esophageal Cancer or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

Life expectancy >= 12 weeks
Women must not be pregnant or breast-feeding due to potential harm to fetus from cixutumumab (IMC-A12) and paclitaxel; all females of childbearing potential must have a blood test or urine study within 48 hours prior to registration to rule out pregnancy
Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method or birth control; abstinence) for the duration of study therapy and for 3 months after the last dose of cixutumumab (IMC-A12); should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
Patients must have measurable disease

Patients must have metastatic disease of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction

Histologic, cytologic or radiologic documentation of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction; radiologic, endoscopic, histologic or cytologic evidence of locally recurrent or locally residual (post-resection) disease is also permitted
For the purposes of this study, undifferentiated adenocarcinomas and adenosquamous tumors will be considered as adenocarcinomas; in addition, tumors involving the gastroesophageal junction will be defined by the Siewert classification

Patients with gastroesophageal junction tumors who are eligible:

Adenocarcinoma of the esophageal junction (AEG) Type I: adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus which usually arises from an area with specialized intestinal metaplasia of the esophagus, i.e., Barrett's esophagus, and may infiltrate the esophagogastric junction from above
AEG Type II: true carcinoma of the cardia arising from the cardiac epithelium or short segments with intestinal metaplasia at the esophagogastric junction

Patients with gastroesophageal junction tumors who are NOT eligible:

AEG Type III: subcardial gastric carcinoma which infiltrates the esophagogastric junction and distal esophagus from below

Patients must have received and progressed on one and only one line of prior systemic therapy for esophagus or esophagogastric cancer; this could have included one regimen for metastatic disease, or one regimen with radiotherapy for initially locally advanced disease; prior radiation therapy is permitted

If patients progress or recur within 6 months of neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy, this will be considered one line of therapy; for patients progressing or recurring more than 6 months after neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy, they will need to receive one line of therapy for recurrent disease to be eligible
If patients receive one regimen in which a chemotherapy agent is dropped for toxicity without progression, this treatment will be considered one line of therapy; however, substitution or addition of a new agent will be considered a second line of therapy
Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-2
Leukocytes > 3,000/mcL
Absolute neutrophil count >= 1,500/mcL
Hemoglobin >= 9 g/dL
Platelets >= 100,000/mcL
Total bilirubin =< institutional upper limit of normal (ULN)
Aspartate transaminase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT])/alanine transaminase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase [SGPT]) =< 3 X institutional ULN
Creatinine =< 1.5 X institutional ULN or creatinine clearance >= 60 mL/min/1.73m^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal
Patients must have fasting serum glucose =< 160 mg/dL (8.8 mmol/L) or =< ULN, and hemoglobin A1C =< 7% (0.07 International System of Units [SI units]) within 14 days of registration; if baseline nonfasting glucose =< 160 mg/dL (8.8 mmol/L), fasting glucose measurement is not required
Registration no fewer than 28 days from last chemotherapy
A "currently active" second malignancy other than non-melanoma skin cancers are not to be registered; patients are not considered to have a "currently active" malignancy if they have completed therapy and are considered by their physician to be at less than 30% risk of relapse

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients have received prior taxane or anti-insulin growth factor receptor (IGFR) therapy

Patients must not have any of the following conditions:

Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus; patients with a history of diabetes mellitus are allowed to participate, provided that their blood glucose is within normal range (fasting glucose =< 160 mg/dL [8.8 mmol/L] or below the ULN and hemoglobin A1C =< 7% [0.07 SI units]) and that they are on a stable dietary or therapeutic regimen for this condition
Recent major surgery, hormonal therapy (other than replacement) or chemotherapy, within 4 weeks prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events
History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to cixutumumab (IMC-A12)
Psychiatric illness that would prevent the patient from giving informed consent
Medical conditions such as active/uncontrolled infection (including HIV) or cardiac disease that would make this protocol unreasonably hazardous for the patient in the opinion of the treating physician; cardiac disease may include uncontrolled high blood pressure, unstable angina, or serious uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia