RATIONALE: Imatinib mesylate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for cancer cell growth.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of imatinib mesylate in treating patients who have stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial or primary peritoneal cancer that has not responded to previous treatment.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the response rates (confirmed, complete, and partial) in patients with platinum- and taxane-refractory stage III or IV ovarian epithelial or primary peritoneal cancer treated with imatinib mesylate.
• Determine the toxicity of this drug in these patients.
• Correlate, preliminarily, CD117 and platelet-derived growth factor receptor expression levels with response in patients treated with this drug.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive oral imatinib mesylate once daily in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 20-40 patients will be accrued for this study.

• Ovarian Cancer
• Peritoneal Cavity Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed epithelial carcinoma of the ovary or primary peritoneal serous papillary carcinoma

  • No mixed Mullerian tumors
  • No borderline ovarian tumors
• Stage III or IV disease at time of diagnosis by surgical staging
• Expression of KIT (CD117) and/or platelet-derived growth factor receptor by immunohistochemistry
• Relapsed within 6 months after completion of or progressed while receiving prior frontline chemotherapy with a platinum (cisplatin or carboplatin) and a taxane (paclitaxel or docetaxel) administered concurrently or sequentially
• Measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• Not specified

Performance status:

• Zubrod 0-1

Life expectancy:

• Not specified

Hematopoietic:

• Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin at least 9 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• SGOT or SGPT no greater than 2.5 times ULN

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 1.5 times ULN

Cardiovascular:

• No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease (e.g., congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction within the past 2 months)

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for 3 months after study participation
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, or other adequately treated stage I or II cancer in complete remission

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• At least 28 days since prior biologic therapy
• No concurrent anticancer biologic therapy
• No concurrent cytokines (e.g., filgrastim [G-CSF] or sargramostim [GM-CSF])

Chemotherapy:

• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 28 days since prior chemotherapy

• No more than 3 prior chemotherapy regimens in addition to frontline chemotherapy

  • Retreatment with a platinum agent or with the same taxane as in the frontline regimen is not counted as an additional regimen
• No concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

• Prior hormonal therapy allowed

Radiotherapy:

• Recovered from prior radiotherapy
• No prior radiotherapy to more than 25% of bone marrow
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery:

• Prior surgical debulking allowed for relapsed disease if measurable disease remains after surgery
• At least 14 days since prior major surgery
• Recovered from all prior surgery

Other:

• At least 28 days since prior investigational drugs
• No concurrent therapeutic doses of warfarin for anticoagulation (heparin or mini-dose warfarin (1 mg/day) allowed)
• No other concurrent anticancer agents
• No other concurrent investigational drugs