XK469R in Treating Patients With Refractory Hematologic Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of 1 of the following relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies for which all potentially curative therapy options have been exhausted: * Acute myeloid leukemia\* (AML) (non-M3) * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia\* * Myelodysplastic syndromes\*, including the following: * Refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) * RAEB in transformation * Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia in transformation\* (CMML-t) with ≥ 10% peripheral blood/bone marrow blasts * Chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis\* (CML-BC) * Chronic lymphocytic leukemia * Rai stage III-IV * Failed prior fludarabine-based therapy and ≥ 1 other therapy * Fludarabine failure defined as failure to achieve partial response or complete response (CR) to at least 1 fludarabine-containing regimen; disease progression while on fludarabine; or disease progression within 6 months of response to fludarabine * Not a candidate for autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) * Patients with previously untreated AML, MDS, or CMML-t who are considered inappropriate candidates for, or refused, standard induction chemotherapy due to older age or concurrent medical conditions are eligible * No known CNS disease * Performance status - ECOG 0-2 * See Disease Characteristics * Bilirubin \< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * AST and ALT \< 5 times ULN * Creatinine \< 1.5 times ULN * No symptomatic congestive heart failure * No unstable angina pectoris * No cardiac arrhythmia * Not pregnant or nursing * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * No ongoing or active infection * No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance * No history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to XK469R * No other uncontrolled illness * HIV-positive patients allowed provided CD4 counts are normal with no AIDS-defining disease * No prior allogeneic SCT * No concurrent prophylactic hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors * More than 7 days since prior cytotoxic chemotherapy (except hydroxyurea) * More than 7 days since prior radiotherapy * No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients * No other concurrent investigational agents * No other concurrent anti-leukemia agents * No other concurrent anticancer therapy