RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin may also stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin works in treating patients with metastatic kidney cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Determine the efficacy of 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) in patients with metastatic papillary or clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Secondary

• Determine the safety of this drug in these patients.
• Correlate tumor c-met expression with response in patients treated with this drug.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label study. Patients are stratified according to histology (papillary vs clear cell).

Patients receive 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) IV over 60-90 minutes on days 1, 4, 8, and 11. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 1 year in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients are followed at 3 weeks and then every 3 months thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 24-74 patients (12-37 per stratum) will be accrued for this study within 6-20 months (clear cell stratum) and 2-5 years (papillary stratum).

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma

  • Papillary OR clear cell histology

    • If other histologies are present, clear cell or papillary must be predominant

  • Metastatic disease

• Measurable disease

  • At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques OR ≥ 10 mm by spiral CT scan

• No brain metastases unless previously treated with radiotherapy or surgery AND asymptomatic with no active brain metastases detectable by CT scan or MRI for ≥ 6 months

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm^3
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• AST and ALT ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 times ULN

Cardiovascular

• No symptomatic congestive heart failure
• No unstable angina pectoris
• No cardiac arrhythmia
• No severe valvular disease

Pulmonary

• No severe debilitating pulmonary disease

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No allergy to egg or egg products
• No history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biological composition to 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG)
• No active or ongoing infection requiring IV antibiotics
• No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
• No other uncontrolled illness

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No more than 1 prior cytokine-based regimen
• No concurrent biologic therapy

Chemotherapy

• More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin)

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery

Other

• Recovered from prior therapy
• No more than 1 prior non-cytokine-based regimen
• No other prior systemic treatment regimens
• No other concurrent cytotoxic therapy
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy
• No other concurrent investigational agents