Vorinostat, Cytarabine, and Etoposide in Treating Patients With Relapsed and/or Refractory Acute Leukemia or Myelodysplastic Syndromes or Myeloproliferative Disorders

Inclusion Criteria: * Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following: * Relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) * Patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia t(15;17) must have failed prior tretinoin and arsenic trioxide-containing regimen * Must be refractory to both agents with absence of durable hematologic response OR relapsed after a complete response duration of \< 6 months * Relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia * Chronic myelogenous leukemia in accelerated or blastic phase * Must be refractory to treatment with imatinib mesylate or dasatinib * Disease progression despite continued treatment with imatinib mesylate or dasatinib * Patients in accelerated or blastic phase are eligible if unable to tolerate imatinib mesylate provided their disease has progressed on dasatinib or if unable to tolerate dasatinib * AML arising in the setting of underlying myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and/or myeloproliferative disorders (MPD) * Secondary or therapy-related AML * No active CNS leukemia * Leukostasis OR leukemic blast count \> 50,000/mm³ allowed provided patient is treated with emergency leukapheresis or hydroxyurea to reduce leukemic blast count to \< 30,000/mm³ * ECOG performance status (PS) 0-2 OR Karnofsky PS 60-100% * Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN * Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * No history of cytarabine-related neurotoxicity * No history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to vorinostat (SAHA) or other agents used in the study * No other uncontrolled illness, including, but not limited to, any of the following: * Symptomatic congestive heart failure * Unstable angina pectoris * Cardiac arrhythmia * Psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude compliance with study requirements * Infection allowed provided patient is receiving active treatment * No HIV positivity * See Disease Characteristics * Recovered from prior therapy * Persistent alopecia, fingernail discoloration, or hematologic abnormalities (primarily related to underlying disease) \> 4 weeks after last course of chemotherapy or radiotherapy does not exclude patient * At least 2 weeks since prior valproic acid or any other histone deacetylase inhibitor * No more than 3 prior courses of induction/reinduction chemotherapy, including induction and consolidation therapy or induction therapy after any bone marrow transplantation or similar procedure * Prior low-dose azacitidine, growth factors, cytokines, thalidomide, interferon, or imatinib mesylate for treatment of preceding MDS/MPD do not count as prior induction/reinduction therapy * At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas \[e.g., carmustine\] or mitomycin C) or radiotherapy * At least 24 hours since prior hydroxyurea * At least 2 weeks since prior imatinib mesylate, hematopoietic growth factors, and biological agents * At least 4 weeks since prior autologous stem cell transplantation * Prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation allowed if all of the following criteria are met: * At least 90 days since prior transplant * No evidence of graft-vs-host disease * At least 2 weeks since prior immunosuppressive therapy * No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies * No other concurrent investigational agents * Concurrent hydroxyurea or leukapheresis allowed on days 1-10 of study treatment to control rising leukemic blasts (blasts \> 30,000/mm³) or leukostasis