Etoposide, Cyclophosphamide, Thalidomide, Celecoxib, and Fenofibrate in Treating Young Patients With Relapsed or Progressive Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed cancer (at diagnosis or relapse), including any of the following:

  • Leukemia and/or lymphoma (closed to accrual)
  • Bone tumor (e.g., Ewing's sarcoma or osteosarcoma) (closed to accrual)
  • Neuroblastoma (closed to accrual)
  • High-grade glial tumor
  • Low-grade glial tumor
  • Ependymoma
  • Medulloblastoma and/or primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET)
  • Miscellaneous tumor (closed to accrual)

  • Brain stem glioma, defined as intrinsic tumors of the pons causing diffuse enlargement

    • Brain stem glioma that progressed after radiotherapy does not require histological confirmation

    • Duration of symptoms at the time of diagnosis must be < 3 months

      • Symptoms should consist of cranial nerve deficits, ataxia, and/or long tract signs
• Relapsed or progressive poor prognosis disease for which no available curative therapy exists

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status 50-100% OR Lansky play scale 50-100% (for infants)
• Life expectancy > 2 months
• Platelet count > 75,000/mm^3 (transfusion independent)
• Absolute neutrophil count > 1,000/mm^3 (in patients without bone marrow disease)
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
• Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL OR creatinine clearance or glomerular filtration rate ≥ 70 mL/min
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• SGPT ≤ 3 times normal
• SGOT ≤ 3 times normal (4 times normal for patients on ranitidine hydrochloride)
• Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 3 times normal
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective double-method contraception during and for 2 months after completion of study treatment
• Must be willing to participate in the Celgene STEPS® program
• Recent thromboembolic disease (e.g., deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) allowed if patient is clinically stable and the thromboembolic event occurred > 3 weeks prior to study entry
• No active infection
• No active uncontrolled cardiac, hepatic, renal, or psychiatric disease ≥ grade 3
• No known allergies to sulfonamides
• No concurrent illness that would obscure toxicity or dangerously alter drug metabolism
• No other serious medical illness

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from prior therapy
• Prior chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy allowed
• Prior celecoxib allowed
• Prior standard-dose IV etoposide and cyclophosphamide administered in 3-week courses allowed
• No prior oral therapy with etoposide, thalidomide, cyclophosphamide, or fenofibrate for > 2 months in duration
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No other concurrent nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
• Concurrent steroids and/or antiseizure medications allowed