Ixabepilone in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Aggressive Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria:

Histologically confirmed aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of 1 of the following cellular types:

Grade III follicular center
Diffuse large B-cell
Mantle cell
Primary mediastinal B-cell
Burkitt's
High-grade B-cell (Burkitt-like)

Anaplastic large cell of 1 of the following subtypes:

CD30-positive
T-cell
Null cell
Hodgkin's-like

Relapsed or refractory disease after prior standard chemotherapy, meeting criteria for 1of the following cohorts:

Cohort 1 (relapsed but chemosensitive): Prior complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) lasting at least 4 weeks after the most recent prior therapy

Cohort 2 (refractory): Stable disease or less than a PR after the most recent prior therapy

No progressive disease after the most recent prior therapy

Measurable disease

At least 1 bidimensionally measurable lesion at least 10 mm by conventional techniques or clinical exam

Ineligible for or unwilling to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Patients requiring debulking prior to transplant allowed

No known CNS involvement by lymphoma

Prior CNS disease that has been successfully treated in patients with relapsed disease exclusively outside of the CNS may be allowed by the principal investigator
Performance status - ECOG 0-2
More than 3 months
WBC at least 3,000/mm^3
Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,200/mm^3
Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3
Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
AST/ALT no greater than 2.5 times upper limit of normal
Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
Creatinine clearance at least 60 mL/min
No symptomatic congestive heart failure
No unstable angina pectoris
No cardiac arrhythmia
Not pregnant or nursing
Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
No prior allergic reaction or hypersensitivity to compounds containing Cremophor EL or agents of similar chemical or biological composition to BMS-247550
No peripheral neuropathy grade 2 or greater
No other currently active malignancy except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix (previously treated malignancy allowed if considered to be at less than 30% risk of relapse)
No ongoing or active infection
No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
No other concurrent uncontrolled illness
No colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) within 24 hours of study chemotherapy
No CSFs during first course of study therapy
No concurrent filgrastim-SD/01
No concurrent immunotherapy
See Disease Characteristics
At least 4 weeks since prior cytotoxic chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin)
No other concurrent chemotherapy
No concurrent hormonal therapy
At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
No concurrent therapeutic radiotherapy
At least 4 weeks since prior surgery
Recovered from prior therapy
At least 7 days since prior cimetidine
No concurrent cimetidine
No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
No other concurrent investigational agents
No other concurrent anticancer medications
No concurrent unconventional therapies, food, or vitamin supplements containing Hypericum perforatum