RATIONALE: Interleukin-2 may stimulate a person's white blood cells to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining bryostatin 1 with interleukin-2 may cause a stronger immune response and kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combining interleukin-2 and bryostatin 1 in treating patients who have advanced kidney cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the objective response rate in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and bryostatin 1.
• Compare the toxicity of 3 different doses of bryostatin 1 given in combination with a fixed dose of IL-2 in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are randomized to one of three dose levels of bryostatin 1.

Patients receive interleukin-2 (IL-2) subcutaneously on days 1-4, 8-11, and 15-18. For the second and subsequent courses of IL-2, patients also receive bryostatin 1 IV over 1 hour on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days for at least 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients with stable or responding disease may receive 3 additional courses of therapy.

An additional cohort of patients receives treatment as above at a higher dose to evaluate toxicity.

Patients are followed for 1 year.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 24-65 patients (8-16 per bryostatin 1 dose level) will be accrued for this study within 14-27 months.

• Biological: aldesleukin
• Drug: bryostatin 1

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma

  • Recurrent or refractory advanced disease OR
  • Newly diagnosed disease with no appropriate standard therapy available
• Measurable disease

• No active CNS metastases

  • Single prior CNS metastasis allowed if all of the following are true:

    • Previously resected and irradiated
    • No evidence of progressive CNS disease for at least 8 weeks after completion of therapy
    • No requirement for steroids or anti-seizure medications

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• Over 18

Performance status:

• ECOG 0-2

Life expectancy:

• More than 3 months

Hematopoietic:

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

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST/ALT no greater than 2.5 times ULN

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

• No symptomatic congestive heart failure
• No unstable angina pectoris
• No cardiac arrhythmia

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for at least 2 weeks after study for female patients and for 3 months after study for male patients
• No concurrent uncontrolled illness
• No ongoing or active infection
• No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study entry

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• No prior interleukin-2

Chemotherapy:

• Not specified

Endocrine therapy:

• See Disease Characteristics

Radiotherapy:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Prior radiotherapy to less than 50% of bone marrow allowed
• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy

Surgery:

• See Disease Characteristics

Other:

• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients