Thalidomide and Procarbazine in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Progressive Malignant Glioma

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed malignant glioma
• * Anaplastic astrocytoma
• * Anaplastic oligodendroglioma
• * Glioblastoma multiforme
• * Anaplastic mixed oligoastrocytoma
• Progressive or recurrent disease\* after radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy NOTE: \*Patients with prior low-grade glioma who progressed after therapy and are found to have high-grade glioma are eligible
• Measurable disease by MRI or CT scan
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 18 and over
• Performance status
• Karnofsky 60-100%
• Life expectancy
• More than 2 months
• Hematopoietic
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• Transaminases ≤ 4 times upper limit of normal
• Renal
• Creatinine ≤ 1.7 mg/dL
• Other
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use 1 highly active method and 1 additional effective method of contraception for 1 month before, during, and for 4 weeks after study treatment
• No concurrent serious infection
• No other concurrent medical illness that would preclude study treatment
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix or basal cell skin cancer
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• No prior thalidomide
• No concurrent prophylactic filgrastim (G-CSF)
• Chemotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas)
• No prior procarbazine
• No more than 2 prior chemotherapy regimens for malignant glioma
• Endocrine therapy
• Not specified
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 months since prior radiotherapy
• Other
• Recovered from prior therapy
• More than 7 days since prior antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and/or monamine oxidase inhibitors)
• No concurrent antidepressants
• No other concurrent investigational agents