DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed breast and/or ovarian epithelial cancer, meeting one of the following criteria:

  • Documented deleterious BRCA1/BRCA2 germline mutation or BRCAPRO score ≥ 30%
  • Sporadic ovarian serous epithelial cancer with negative family history, BRCAPRO score ≤ 20%, or negative BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation
  • Triple negative (estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and HER2/neu negative) breast cancer with negative family history and/or BRCAPRO score ≤ 10% or negative BRCA1/2 mutation

• Metastatic or unresectable disease for which standard curative measures do not exist or are no longer effective

  • Patients with locally advanced, unresectable breast cancer must have been previously treated with standard therapy

    • Patients with locally advanced breast cancer presenting for initial therapy are not eligible
  • No local (i.e., only in breast or chest wall) recurrence only
• Measurable and/or evaluable disease

• Disease can be safely biopsied, as determined by an interventional radiologist (cohort 2)

  • Agrees to undergo mandatory biopsy at baseline

• No diagnosis of brain metastases within the past year

  • Patients with brain metastases diagnosed > 1 year ago are eligible provided the patient has undergone resection or radiotherapy for the brain metastases and has had no CNS recurrence for a full year

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Male or female
• Menopausal status not specified
• ECOG performance status (PS) 0-2 or Karnofsky PS 60-100%
• Life expectancy > 3 months
• Hemoglobin ≥ 10 g/dL
• Leukocytes ≥ 3,000/mcL
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mcL
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mcL
• Total bilirubin normal (in the absence of Gilbert's syndrome)
• AST/ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min OR serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN
• Corrected or ionized calcium normal
• Potassium normal
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for ≥ 3 months after completion of study treatment
• Able to swallow pills

• No history of grade 4 allergic reaction to platinum

  • Patients with ≤ grade 3 (without a reaction protocol) or ≤ grade 2 (in the face of pretreatment, but not graduated treatment exposure) allergic reaction to platinums are eligible
• No functional impairment due to neuropathy
• No clinically significant bleeding

• No concurrent uncontrolled illness including, but not limited to, any of the following:

  • Ongoing or active infection
  • Symptomatic congestive heart failure
  • Unstable angina pectoris
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Psychiatric illness/social situations that would preclude study compliance
• No other invasive malignancies within the past 5 years, except non-melanomatous skin cancer, non-invasive bladder cancer, stage I endometrial cancer, or cervical cancer cured by surgical resection (cohort 2)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics

• Recovered from prior therapy (≤ CTC grade 1)

  • Chronic stable grade 2 peripheral neuropathy secondary to neurotoxicity from prior therapy may be allowed at the discretion of the principal investigator

• At least 6 months since prior platinum drugs

  • Patients with platinum-resistant disease are eligible
• More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C), biological therapy, hormonal therapy, or radiotherapy
• More than 4 weeks since prior investigational agents
• More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery
• No prior PARP inhibitors
• No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
• No other concurrent investigational agents