Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of gemcitabine hydrochloride and tanespimycin in treating patients who have recurrent advanced ovarian epithelial or primary peritoneal cavity cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine hydrochloride and tanespimycin, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine the response rate, time to progression, and survival of patients with recurrent advanced ovarian epithelial or primary peritoneal cavity cancer treated with gemcitabine hydrochloride and 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) (tanespimycin).

II. Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients. III. Correlate the effect of 17-AAG alone on chaperone and client proteins in tumor samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells with response, time to progression, and survival of these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to gemcitabine hydrochloride therapy (gemcitabine hydrochloride-naive/no prior exposure to gemcitabine hydrochloride vs gemcitabine hydrochloride-resistant/prior exposure to gemcitabine hydrochloride as a single agent with disease progression while on treatment). Patients receive tanespimycin intravenously (IV) over 2 hours on days 1 and 8 during course 1 and days 2 and 9 during subsequent courses and gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes on day 7 during course 1 and days 1 and 8 during subsequent courses. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 3 months until disease progression and then every 6 months for up to 5 years.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of ovarian epithelial or primary peritoneal cavity cancer

  • Relapsed disease
  • Persistent disease

• Platinum-resistant disease, defined as having evidence of disease that would be expected to be non-responsive to additional platinum-containing regimens or contraindication to platinum-based chemotherapy and 1 of the following:

  • Failure to obtain a complete response to initial platinum therapy
  • Recurrence < 6 months after completing a platinum-containing regimen for initial or recurrent disease
  • Any of the above situations and following treatment with additional chemotherapy regimens (e.g., non-platinum containing regimens)
  • Relative or absolute contraindication to platinum-based chemotherapy regimens (e.g., platinum allergy) as determine by the investigator

• Measurable or evaluable disease

  • Patients with a rising CA 125 level, even in the absence of other indicators of disease, allowed provided CA 125 is ≥ 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

• Patients with accessible disease must be willing to undergo tumor biopsies

• No CNS metastases

• Performance status - ECOG 0-2

• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm^3

• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL

• Bilirubin normal

• Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 2.5 times ULN

• AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN

• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN

• Ejection fraction > 40% by ECHO for patients with prior anthracycline therapy

• No significant cardiac disease including any of the following:

  • New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease
  • History of myocardial infraction within the past year
  • Uncontrolled dysrhythmias or requirement for antiarrhythmic drugs
  • Poorly controlled angina

• No history of serious ventricular arrhythmia (i.e., ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation ≥ 3 beats in a row)

• No history of QTc ≥ 500 msec

• No active ischemic heart disease within the past 12 months

• No congenital long QT syndrome

• No left bundle branch block

• No cardiac symptoms ≥ grade 2

• No history of cardiac toxicity after receiving anthracyclines (e.g., doxorubicin hydrochloride, daunorubicin hydrochloride, mitoxantrone, bleomycin, or carmustine)

• Does not meet the medicare criteria for home oxygen

• No pulse oximetry at rest and exercise < 88%

• No symptomatic pulmonary disease requiring medication including any of the following:

  • Dyspnea on or off exertion
  • Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea
  • Oxygen requirement
  • Significant pulmonary disease (e.g., chronic obstructive/restrictive pulmonary disease)

• No pulmonary symptoms ≥ grade 2

• No history of pulmonary toxicity after receiving anthracyclines (e.g., doxorubicin hydrochloride, daunorubicin hydrochloride, mitoxantrone, bleomycin, or carmustine)

• K+, Mg ++, and Ca ++ normal

• No seizure disorder

• No uncontrolled infection

• No history of serious allergic reaction to eggs

• More than 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy

• More than 4 weeks since prior biologic therapy

• No concurrent immunotherapy

• No concurrent routine or prophylactic colony-stimulating factors (e.g., filgrastim [G-CSF] or sargramostim [GM-CSF])

• See Disease Characteristics

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

• Prior gemcitabine hydrochloride allowed provided 1 of the following criteria is met:

  • Patients have no prior exposure to gemcitabine hydrochloride
  • Patients who have prior exposure to gemcitabine hydrochloride as a single agent have experienced progressive disease while on treatment

• No other concurrent chemotherapy

• No prior radiotherapy to > 25% of bone marrow

• No history of radiotherapy that potentially included the heart in the field (e.g., mantle)

  • Chest wall irradiation or other radiotherapy techniques that do not include the heart in the radiation field area allowed

• More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy

• More than 4 weeks since prior radiopharmaceuticals

• No concurrent radiotherapy

• No other concurrent investigational therapy

• No concurrent medications that may prolong QTc