DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed breast cancer

  • Stage I-III disease
  • Scheduled to undergo definitive surgery or other primary treatment (e.g., preoperative/neoadjuvant systemic treatment) for breast cancer

• Hormone receptor status:

  • Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Sex

• Female

Menopausal status

• Not specified

Performance status

• ECOG 0-2 OR
• Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

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

Hepatic

• Bilirubin normal
• AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal
• PT ≤ 14 seconds

Renal

• Creatinine normal

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 contraception
• No ongoing or active infection
• No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
• No other uncontrolled intercurrent illness
• No history of allergic reaction attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to vorinostat

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Chemotherapy

• No prior or concurrent chemotherapy for breast cancer

Endocrine therapy

• At least 30 days since prior hormone replacement therapy (e.g., estrogen and/or progestin)
• No prior or concurrent hormonal therapy for breast cancer
• Concurrent vaginal hormone preparations (e.g., vagifem or estring) allowed
• No concurrent birth control pills

Radiotherapy

• No prior radiotherapy to the ipsilateral breast
• No prior or concurrent radiotherapy for breast cancer

Other

• No prior or concurrent novel therapy for breast cancer
• At least 14 days since prior valproic acid or another histone deacetylase inhibitor
• No other concurrent therapy for this cancer
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients