• Objective response rate [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Time to progression [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Toxicity as assessed by NCI CTCAE v3.0 [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  
• Pharmacokinetics [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Determine the objective response rate in patients with recurrent osteosarcoma (closed to accrual as of 12/21/06) or Ewing's sarcoma or unresectable or locally recurrent chondrosarcoma treated with sequential gemcitabine and docetaxel.

Secondary

• Determine the time to progression in patients treated with this regimen.
• Assess the toxicity of this regimen in these patients.
• Compare the pharmacokinetics of this regimen vs gemcitabine alone in these patients.
• Obtain tumor samples for cRNA microarray analysis of gene expression and development of cell lines and xenotransplantation models.

OUTLINE: This is a nonrandomized, multicenter study.

Patients are stratified according to diagnosis (recurrent osteosarcoma [closed to accrual as of 12/21/06] vs recurrent Ewing's sarcoma vs unresectable or locally recurrent chondrosarcoma).

Patients receive gemcitabine IV over 90 minutes on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 8. Patients also receive filgrastim (G-CSF) subcutaneously (SC) beginning on day 9 and continuing until blood counts recover. Patients may receive pegfilgrastim SC on day 9 (once per course) as an alternative to G-CSF. Treatment repeats every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year and then every 6 months for 1 year.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A maximum of 120 patients (40 per stratum) will be accrued for this study within 17-24 months.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed* diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  • Recurrent high-grade osteosarcoma (closed to accrual as of 12/21/06) or Ewing's sarcoma

    • Progressive disease after standard therapy
    • Received no more than 2 additional salvage regimens

  • Chondrosarcoma

    • Unresectable OR locally recurrent and unable to be completely resected NOTE: *Biopsy required for isolated pulmonary recurrences

• Measurable disease

  • At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion by medical imaging techniques
  • Ascites, pleural effusions, and bone marrow disease are not considered measurable disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 4 and over

Performance status

• ECOG 0-2 (≥ 18 years of age)
• Karnofsky 50-100% (11-17 years of age)
• Lansky 50-100% (≤ 10 years of age)

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3 (transfusion independent)
• Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL (transfusion allowed)

Hepatic

• Bilirubin ≤ upper limit of normal (ULN) (except for patients with Gilbert's syndrome)
• ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN

Renal

• Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate > 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2 OR

• Serum creatinine ≤ ULN for age:

  • Ages 5 and under ≤ 0.8 mg/dL
  • Ages 6 to 10 ≤ 1.0 mg/dL
  • Ages 11 to 15 ≤ 1.2 mg/dL
  • Ages 16 to 18 ≤ 1.5 mg/dL

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after study participation
• Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior chemotherapy ≤ grade 1
• Sensory or motor neuropathy due to prior surgery or tumor involvement ≤ grade 2 AND stable or improving
• No active or uncontrolled infection
• No known hypersensitivity reaction to docetaxel or other polysorbate 80-formulated agents

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• At least 72 hours since prior filgrastim (G-CSF)
• No prior allogeneic transplantation
• No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy

• At least 2 weeks since prior myelosuppressive therapy
• At least 6 months since prior myeloablative therapy
• No prior gemcitabine
• No prior taxanes
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Concurrent hormonal therapy allowed

Radiotherapy

• At least 6 weeks since prior local radiotherapy
• At least 4 months since prior extensive radiotherapy to more than 50% of the pelvis
• At least 4 months since prior cranial spinal radiotherapy
• At least 6 months since prior total body irradiation
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• No concurrent surgery

Other

• Recovered from all prior therapy
• No other concurrent investigational anticancer therapy