RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of depsipeptide in treating patients who have solid tumors for which no standard therapy exists.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the toxic effects and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of depsipeptide in patients with incurable solid tumors (per 3/29/00 notification, only patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma are being accrued). II. Determine antineoplastic activity of depsipeptide in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a dose escalation, multicenter study. Patients receive depsipeptide IV over 4 hours on days 1 and 5. Treatment continues every 21 days in the absences of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of depsipeptide. If 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity at a given dose level, escalation ceases and the maximum tolerated dose is defined as the previous dose level .

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A maximum of 48 patients will be accrued for this study within 18-24 months.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed incurable solid tumor (per 3/29/00 notification, only patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma are being accrued) No known standard therapy for the disease that is potentially curative or definitely capable of extending life expectancy No CNS metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Greater than 12 weeks Hematopoietic: WBC greater than 3,500/mm3 Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm3 PT/PTT no greater than 1.1 times upper limit of normal (ULN) Hepatic: Bilirubin less than 1.5 ULN AST less than 3 times ULN Renal: Creatinine less than 1.5 times ULN Cardiovascular: Cardiogram must be performed within 1 month of protocol registration No class III/IV heart disease Ejection fraction of at least 45% by MUGA or Echo Other: HIV negative No recent weight loss of greater than 10% of average body weight Oral intake of at least 1,200 calories/day No uncontrolled infection Not pregnant or nursing Fertile patients must use effective contraception No serious concurrent illness such as seizure disorder, uncontrolled hypertension, or myelodysplastic syndrome

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosourea or mitomycin) No prior doxorubicin of a total dose greater than 360 mg/m2 Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: At least 3 weeks since prior radiation therapy with depsipeptide No prior radiation to greater than 25% of bone marrow Surgery: At least 21 days since prior major surgery