Bryostatin 1 Plus Vincristine in Treating Patients With Progressive or Relapsed Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma After Bone Marrow or Stem Cell Transplantation

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have biopsy proven relapsed or progressive low or intermediate grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (by REAL classification); after prior autologous bone marrow transplantation or peripheral blood stem cell rescue * Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \>= 20 mm with conventional techniques or as \>= 10 mm with spiral CT scan * Patients must have received a prior autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell rescue to be eligible for this trial (there is no specified time interval from transplant prior to enrollment on study; at least 4 weeks must have elapsed since prior large-field radiation therapy; patients must have been off previous anti-cancer therapy for at least 4 weeks and recovered from all treatment related toxicity; prior vincristine therapy is allowed * Life expectancy of greater than 8-10 weeks * ECOG performance status 0-2 * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,250/uL * Platelets \>= 50,000/uL * Hemoglobin \>= 8.5 g /dl * Total bilirubin =\< 2.0 mg/dl * AST(SGOT)/ALT(SGPT) =\< 3 X normal * Creatinine =\< 2.0 mg/dl * Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document Exclusion Criteria: * Patients requiring concomitant anticancer therapy are excluded * Patients with known brain metastases or leptomeningeal involvement should be excluded from this clinical trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events * Patients who have had a prior allogeneic transplant are not eligible * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Pregnant and lactating women are excluded from this study * HIV infection * Patients with clinically apparent neuropathy (\>= grade 2)