Testing the Anti-cancer Drug Darolutamide in Patients With Testosterone-Driven Salivary Gland Cancers

Inclusion Criteria

• •Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed salivary gland cancer that is recurrent/metastatic or unresectable/locally advanced, with AR expression detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA)-approved assay. Androgen receptor testing by immunohistochemistry (IHC) can be performed locally in a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certified lab
• •Patients must have measurable disease
• •Patients must have not had prior AR-targeted therapy, except for AR-targeted therapy administered in the neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant setting and with disease recurrence more than 6 months since treatment completion
• •Age \>= 18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of darolutamide in combination with leuprolide acetate in patients \< 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study
• •Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%)
• •Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,000/mcL
• •Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
• •Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) (exception: patients with elevated bilirubin due to Gilbert's disease would be eligible for the trial)
• •Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum (glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (\[SGPT\]) =\< 3 x institutional ULN
• •Creatinine =\< 1.5 x institutional ULN
• •Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) \>= 30 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 (by Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration \[CKD-EPI\])
• •Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients on effective anti-retroviral therapy with undetectable viral load within 6 months are eligible for this trial
• •For patients with evidence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, the HBV viral load must be undetectable on suppressive therapy, if indicated
• •Patients with treated brain metastases are eligible
• •Patients with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are eligible for this trial
• •Patients with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease, or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents, should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification. To be eligible for this trial, patients should be class 2B or better
• •The effects of darolutamide on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because androgen receptor inhibitor agents as well as other therapeutic agents used in this trial are known to be teratogenic (leuprolide-acetate), women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (non-hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately. Men and women treated or enrolled on this protocol must also agree to use adequate contraception prior to the study, for the duration of study participation, and 7 days after completion of darolutamide administration or after the depot interval for the leuprolide-acetate dose used has been completed, whichever is longer
• •Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
• •Patients must have tumors that are safely accessible for biopsy.
• •* Note: Two research biopsies are mandated in this trial. If the biopsy is deemed to be unsafe after attempting the first biopsy, the patient will remain eligible for the trial and subsequent tumor biopsies will not be required