ABI-007 in Treating Patients With Persistent or Recurrent Cervical Cancer

OBJECTIVES: I. Estimate the antitumor activity of ABI-007 in patients with persistent or recurrent squamous or nonsquamous cell carcinoma of the cervix who have failed on higher-priority treatment protocols. II. Determine the nature and degree of toxicity of ABI-007 in this cohort of patients. III. To determine the expression of the SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine) protein in the tumor tissue and plasma (exploratory study) of patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is an open-label, multicenter study. Patients receive ABI-007 IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Blood samples are collected at baseline and periodically during study for SPARC protein expression analysis by ELISA. Archived tumor tissue samples are also analyzed. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for up to 5 years.