Flavopiridol, Cytarabine, and Mitoxantrone in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Acute Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria:

Pathologically confirmed acute myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoblastic leukemia:

Relapsed >= 1 time OR refractory disease:

Patients who fail primary induction therapy or who relapse after achieving complete remission are eligible if they have received =< 3 prior courses of induction/reinduction therapy
Relapsed >= 1 time OR refractory disease
Patients who fail primary induction therapy or who relapse after achieving complete remission are eligible if they have received =< 3 prior courses of induction/reinduction therapy
No active CNS leukemia
ECOG performance status 0-2
AST and ALT =< 5 times upper limit normal (ULN)
Alkaline phosphatase =< 5 times ULN
Bilirubin =< 2.0 mg/dL
Creatinine =< 2.0 mg/dL
Not pregnant or nursing
Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
LVEF >= 45% by MUGA or ECHO
No active, uncontrolled infection
No other life-threatening illness
No mental deficits and/or psychiatric history that would preclude study compliance
No active graft-vs-host disease
Recovered from all prior therapies
At least 24 hours since prior hydroxyurea, steroids, imatinib mesylate, arsenic trioxide, interferon, or leukapheresis for blast count control
At least 4 weeks since prior stem cell transplantation (autologous or allogeneic)
At least 4 days since prior growth factors
At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy, except for non-aplasia producing treatments (e.g., low-dose cyclophosphamide, hydroxyurea, interferon, imatinib mesylate, mercaptopurine, thalidomide, azacitidine, or decitabine)
No prior flavopiridol
No other concurrent chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or immunotherapy
No acute promyelocytic leukemia (M3)
No hyperleukocytosis with > 50,000 blasts/mm^3