Cisplatin or Carboplatin, and Etoposide With or Without Sunitinib Malate in Treating Patients With Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

All patients must have histologically or cytologically documented small cell lung cancer

Eligible disease stages: the extensive disease classification for this protocol includes all patients with disease sites not defined as limited stage; limited stage disease category includes patients with disease restricted to one hemithorax with regional lymph node metastases, including hilar, ipsilateral and contralateral mediastinal, and/or ipsilateral supraclavicular nodes; extensive stage patients are defined as those patients with extrathoracic metastatic, malignant pleural effusion, bilateral or contralateral supraclavicular adenopathy or contralateral hilar adenopathy

All patients must have measurable disease:

Measurable disease is defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as >= 20 mm with conventional techniques or as >= 10 mm with spiral computed tomography (CT) scan

Lesions that are considered non-measurable, which would make the patient not eligible, include the following:

Bone lesions
Leptomeningeal disease
Ascites
Pleural/pericardial effusion
Lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis
Abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques
Cystic lesions
No prior chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC)
Radiation therapy must have been completed at least one week before initiation of protocol therapy

Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) performance status:

Phase IB: 0-1
Phase II: 0-2
No "currently active" second malignancy other than non-melanoma skin cancers
No history of brain metastases, spinal cord compression, or carcinomatous meningitis
No ongoing cardiac dysrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, or QTc interval >= 500 msec; the use of agents with proarrhythmic potential (e.g., quinidine, procainamide, disopyramide, sotalol, probucol, pedridel, haloperidol, risperidone, indapamide, flecainide) is not recommended while on protocol therapy

Patients with class I New York Heart Association (NYHA) are eligible; patients with a history of class II NYHA are eligible, provided they meet the following criteria:

Patients with a history of class II heart failure who are asymptomatic on treatment
Patients with prior anthracycline exposure
Patients who have received central thoracic radiation that included the heart in the radiotherapy port
Patients with a history of class III or IV NYHA heart failure within 12 months prior to registration are not eligible
Additionally, no myocardial infarction, severe/unstable angina, coronary/peripheral artery bypass graft or stenting, cerebrovascular accident including transient ischemic attack, or pulmonary embolism within the last year
Patients with hypertension that cannot be controlled by medications (> 150/100 mmHg despite optimal medical therapy) are not eligible
Patients who require use of therapeutic doses of coumarin-derivative anticoagulants such as warfarin are excluded, although doses of up to 2 mg daily are permitted for prophylaxis of thrombosis; Note: Low molecular weight heparin is permitted provided the patient's prothrombin time (PT) international normalized ratio (INR) is =< 1.5
No evidence of hemoptysis within 4 weeks prior to starting study treatment; patients with blood-tinged or blood streaked sputum will be permitted on study if the hemoptysis amounts to less than 5 mL of blood per episode and less than 10 mL of blood per 24-hour period in the best estimate of the investigator
None of the following within 28 days of treatment: abdominal fistula, gastrointestinal perforation, intra-abdominal abscess, serious or non-healing wound, ulcer, or bone fracture

The use of the following specific inhibitors and inducers of cytochrome p450, family 3, subfamily A, polypeptide 4 (CYP3A4) is not permitted; the following inhibitors of CYP3A4 are prohibited within 7 days before and during treatment with sunitinib: azole antifungals (ketoconazole, itraconazole), diltiazem, clarithromycin, erythromycin, verapamil, delavirdine, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitors (indinavir, saquinavir, ritonavir, atazanavir, nelfinavir); the following inducers of CYP3A4 are prohibited within 12 days before beginning and during treatment with sunitinib: rifampin, rifabutin, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, phenytoin, St. John's Wort, efavirenz, tipranavir

Other inhibitors and inducers of CYP3A4 may be used if necessary, but there use is discouraged
Non-pregnant and non-nursing
Granulocytes >= 1,500/ul
Platelets >= 100,000/ul
Creatinine clearance >= 70 ml/min
Total bilirubin =< 1.5 mg/dl
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =< 2.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) (patients w/ liver metastases may have AST/ALT =< 5 x ULN)
Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) =< 1.5 x ULN