Genetically Modified Stem Cells and Irinotecan Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Recurrent High-Grade Gliomas

Inclusion Criteria: * Patient has a prior, histologically-confirmed, diagnosis of a grade III or IV glioma (including glioblastoma, anaplastic astrocytoma, gliosarcoma, anaplastic oligodendroglioma, or anaplastic oligoastrocytoma), or has a prior, histologically-confirmed, diagnosis of a grade II glioma and now has radiographic findings consistent with a high-grade glioma (grade III or IV) * Imaging studies show evidence of recurrent, supratentorial tumor(s) * Patient's high-grade glioma has recurred or progressed after prior treatment with brain radiation and temozolomide * Patient has a Karnofsky performance status of \>= 70% * Patient has a life expectancy of \>= 3 months * Female patients of childbearing potential and sexually-active male patients must agree to use an effective method of contraception while participating in this study; women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test =\< 2 weeks prior to registration * PROTOCOL-SPECIFIC CRITERIA * Patient must be in need of a craniotomy for tumor resection or a stereotactic brain biopsy for the purpose of diagnosis or differentiating between tumor progression versus treatment-induced effects following radiation therapy ± chemotherapy * Patients who will undergo tumor resection must have residual enhancing tumor (i.e. a gross total resection is not anticipated) * Based on the neurosurgeon's judgment, there is no anticipated physical connection between the post-resection tumor cavity and the cerebral ventricles * Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of \>= 1500 cells/mm\^3 * Platelet count \>= 100,000 cells/mm\^3 * Total bilirubin =\< 2.0 mg/dl * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\]) =\< 4 times the institutional upper limit of normal * Serum creatinine =\< the institutional upper limit of normal * There is no limit to the number of prior therapies * Patient must be able to understand and be willing to sign a written informed consent document * INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR MTD COHORT 2 * Patient has a prior, histopathologically-confirmed diagnosis of glioblastoma * Patient has not received any therapy for recurrent disease * INCLUSION CRITERIA FOR PROCEEDING TO TREATMENT WITH IRINOTECAN DURING CYCLE 1 * A patient's daily total dose of dexamethasone must be =\< 16 mg by day 3 Exclusion Criteria: * Patient is homozygous or heterozygous for the UDP glycosyltransferase 1 family, polypeptide A1\*28 allele (UGT 1A1\*28) allele and/or has Gilbert's disease * Patient must not be taking any cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) hepatic enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants (phenytoin, fosphenytoin \[Cerebyx\], carbamazepine, phenobarbital, primidone, oxcarbazepine) or other moderate to strong CYP3A4 inhibitors or inducers for at least 2 weeks prior to start of study treatment * Patient has anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies specific for HLA antigens expressed by the F3.CD.CE NSCs * Patient has not recovered from any toxicity of prior therapies; an interval of at least 6 weeks must have elapsed since taking a nitrosourea-containing chemotherapy regimen, at least 4 weeks since completing a non-nitrosourea-containing cytotoxic chemotherapy regimen, and at least 2 weeks from taking the last dose of a targeted agent and the start of study treatment, with the exception of bevacizumab, where a wash out period of at least 4 weeks is required before starting study treatment * Patient is taking flucytosine * Patient is unable to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) * Patient has chronic or active viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) or an uncontrolled illness * Patient may not be receiving any other investigational agents, or concurrent biological, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to irinotecan * Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is participating in this study * A patient with another active malignancy is ineligible for this study * Non-compliance