DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) by bone marrow aspiration, biopsy, and peripheral blood counts, meeting criteria for 1 of the following:

  • Philadelphia chromosome-positive* or presence of the variants of the (9;22) translocation by cytogenetics or fluorescent in situ hybridization

    • Secondary chromosomal abnormalities (in addition to the Philadelphia chromosome) allowed
  • bcr-abl positive* by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction NOTE: *First cytogenetic or molecular analysis performed within the past 180 days to confirm status
• Must be enrolled on SWOG-9007 (SWOG institutions only) and SWOG-S9910

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Zubrod 0-2

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• No significant bleeding disorder unrelated to cancer including:

  • Congenital bleeding disorders (e.g., von Willebrand's disease)
  • Acquired bleeding disorder within the past year (e.g., acquired anti-factor VIII antibodies)

Hepatic

• Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST or ALT no greater than 2.0 times ULN

Renal

• Not specified

Cardiovascular

• No cardiac symptoms including any of the following:

  • Uncontrolled angina
  • Congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
  • Diagnosed or suspected congenital long QT syndrome
  • History of clinically significant ventricular arrhythmias (e.g., ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, or Torsades de pointes)
  • Prolonged QTc interval on electrocardiogram (> 450 msec)
  • Uncontrolled hypertension

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• 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 adequately treated stage I or II cancer currently in complete remission

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No other concurrent anticancer biologic agents

Chemotherapy

• No prior chemotherapy for peripheral blood stem cell mobilization

  • Prior collection of unmobilized peripheral blood stem cells allowed

• No other concurrent anticancer chemotherapy

  • Concurrent hydroxyurea and/or anagrelide to control blood counts allowed provided it is only administered during the first 28 days of study therapy and for no more than 28 additional days after study therapy

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• No concurrent anticancer radiotherapy

Surgery

• More than 28 days since prior major surgery and recovered

Other

• No prior treatment for CML (except hydroxyurea and/or anagrelide)

• No concurrent therapeutic anticoagulation with warfarin

  • Concurrent therapeutic anticoagulation with low-molecular weight heparin allowed
  • Concurrent low-dose warfarin for prophylaxis to prevent catheter thrombosis allowed (arm III only)

• No concurrent drugs* that have a risk of causing Torsades de Pointe including (arm III patients only):

  • Quinidine, procainamide, disopyramide
  • Amiodarone, sotalol, ibutilide, dofetilide
  • Erythromycin, clarithromycin
  • Chlorpromazine, haloperidol, mesoridazine, thioridazine, pimozide
  • Cisapride, bepridil, droperidol, methadone, arsenic, chloroquine, domperidone
  • Halofantrine, levomethadyl, pentamidine, sparfloxacin, lidoflazine NOTE: *Patients who have discontinued any of these medications must have a wash-out period of at least 5 days or at least 5 half-lives of the drug prior to first dose of dasatinib

• No concurrent drugs that irreversibly inhibit platelet function, including any of the following (arm III only):

  • Aspirin

    • Patients who have discontinued aspirin must have a wash-out period of at least 7 days for low-dose aspirin (< 325 mg/day) or 14 days for high-dose aspirin (> 325 mg/day) prior to first dose of dasatinib
  • Dipyridamole
  • Epoprostenol
  • Eptifibatide
  • Clopidogrel
  • Cilostazol
  • Abciximab
  • Ticlopidine
• No other concurrent anticancer agents