Advancing Chemical and Genomic Strategies for Relapsed/Refractory T-ALL and ETP-ALL

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients to be enrolled in this study must have T-cell ALL or T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (LL) in the first relapse or must have failed primary induction chemotherapy (i.e., never attained a complete remission following an initial course of standard therapy for T-ALL/LBL or have a diagnosis of ETP-ALL \[T-ALL with the following phenotype: Negative: CD1a-, CD8-, CD4-, CD5 (less than 75% of blasts); CD13+, CD33+, CD34+, CD117+, HLA-DR+, CD11b+, and/or CD65+ -in at least 25% of lymphoblasts * Ages Eligible for Study: over 18 years * Patients with T-ALL/LBL must have greater than 5% blasts in the bone marrow with or without extramedullary disease * Patients with T-ALL/LBL must have recurrent disease, documented by clinical or radiographic criteria, as well as histologic verification of the malignancy at original diagnosis * Patients may have CNS 1 (WBC count in CSF \<5 and having no blasts) or CNS 2 (WBC count in CSF \<5 and having blasts) disease but not CNS 3 (WBC count in CSF ≥5 and having blasts) * ECOG 0-2 or Karnofsky ≥ 50% * Patients may be enrolled on study regardless of the timing of prior Intrathecal therapy; however, they may not begin treatment on this protocol until a minimum of 7 days has elapsed since prior intrathecal therapy * Adequate renal function defined as serum creatinine ≤ 1.5x upper limit of normal (ULN) for age. If the serum creatinine is above these values, the calculated creatinine clearance or radioisotope GFR must be ≥ 70 mL/min/1.73m2 * Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5x ULN for age. If the total bilirubin is elevated, patient will still be eligible if the conjugated (direct) serum bilirubin ≤ ULN for age * ALT ≤ 5x ULN of normal for age * Adequate cardiac function defined as shortening fraction of ≥ 27% by echocardiogram or ejection fraction ≥ 45% by gated radionuclide study * No evidence of dyspnea at rest * No exercise intolerance * A pulse oximetry ≥ 94% at sea level (≥ 90% at altitude ≥ 5000 feet) if there is clinical indication for determination * Patients must be capable of understanding the investigational nature, potential risks and benefits of the study. All patients must sign a written informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Significant organ compromise that will increase risk of toxicity or mortality * Active serious infection not controlled by oral or intravenous antibiotics * Active secondary malignancy other than skin cancer (e.g., basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma) that in the investigator's opinion will shorten survival to less than 1 year * Known hepatitis B or C infection, or known seropositivity for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) * Active grade III-V cardiac failure as defined by the New York Heart Association Criteria * Patients with a cardiac ejection fraction (as measured by either multigated acquisition \[MUGA\] or echocardiogram) \< 40%