APN401 in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, or Other Solid Tumors That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

Inclusion Criteria

• •Patients with histologically confirmed inoperable, recurrent or metastatic malignant solid tumors, deemed incurable, and who have either:
• •* Failed to respond to standard therapy or
• •* For whom no standard therapy is available or
• •* Refuse to receive standard therapies
• •The study is intended to enroll patients with pancreatic and colorectal cancer; patients with other types of solid tumors will require approval by the principal investigator
• •Measurable disease as defined by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST)
• •Patients with treated, stable, and asymptomatic brain metastases are eligible
• •Patients on every 3 or every 4 week systemic therapy programs must be at least 4 weeks since treatment and recovered from any clinically significant toxicity experienced; patients on weekly or daily systemic therapy programs and patients receiving radiation must be at least 1 week since treatment and recovered from any clinically significant toxicity experienced; must be at least 4 weeks and have recovered from major surgery
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
• •White blood cells \>= 3000/uL
• •Platelets \>= 100,000/uL
• •Hematocrit \>= 28%
• •Creatinine =\< 1.6 mg/dL
• •Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) \< 2.5 x upper limit of normal
• •Bilirubin =\< 1.6 mg/dL (except patients with Gilbert's syndrome, who must have a total bilirubin less than 3.0 mg/dL)
• •Albumin \>= 3.0 g/dL
• •International normalized ratio (INR) =\< 1.5
• •Any other malignancy from which the patient has been disease-free for less than 2 years, with the exception of adequately treated and cured basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •Other ongoing systemic therapy for cancer, including any other experimental treatment; these include concomitant therapy with any of the following: IL-2, interferon, ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, nivolumab, or other immunotherapy; cytotoxic chemotherapy; and targeted therapies
• •Ongoing requirement for an immunosuppressive treatment, including the use of glucocorticoids or cyclosporine, or with a history of chronic use of any such medication within the last 4 weeks before enrollment; patients are excluded if they have any concurrent medical condition that requires the use of systemic steroids (the use of inhaled or topical steroids is permitted)
• •Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• •Active infection with hepatitis B; active or chronic infection with hepatitis C
• •Clinically significant pulmonary dysfunction, as determined by medical history and physical examination; patients with a history of pulmonary dysfunction must have pulmonary function tests with a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) \>= 60% of predicted and a diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) \>= 55% (corrected for hemoglobin)
• •Clinically significant cardiovascular abnormalities (e.g., congestive heart failure or symptoms of coronary artery disease), as determined by medical history and physical examination; patients with a history of cardiac disease must have a normal cardiac stress test (treadmill, echocardiogram, or myocardial perfusion scan) within the past 6 months of study entry
• •Active infections or oral temperature \> 38.2 degrees Celsius (C) within 48 hours of study entry
• •Systemic infection requiring chronic maintenance or suppressive therapy
• •Patients are excluded for any underlying medical or psychiatric condition, which in the opinion of the investigator, will make treatment hazardous or obscure the interpretation of adverse events, such as a condition associated with frequent rashes or diarrhea