Sunitinib in Treating Patients With Metastatic Germ Cell Tumors That Have Relapsed or Not Responded to Treatment

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed seminoma or nonseminoma germ cell tumors (GCT)
• Refractory or relapsed disease
• Metastatic disease
• Progressive disease after prior cisplatin-based chemotherapy AND meets 1 of the following criteria for salvage therapy:
• Not a candidate for potentially curative therapy
• Received prior high-dose chemotherapy regimens
• Declines potentially curative therapy (mediastinal GCT or primary refractory GCT)
• Measurable disease*, defined as 1 of the following:
• At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques OR ≥ 10 mm by spiral CT scan
• Elevation of alpha-fetoprotein > 15 ng/mL and/or elevation of human chorionic gonadotropin > 2.2 mIU/L
• NOTE: *Patients with radiographically measurable disease only must have ≥ 1 site that has not undergone prior irradiation

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status 70-100%
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm³
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN
• AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN (unless elevated liver function abnormalities due to underlying malignancy)
• LVEF ≥ 50% by MUGA
• No grade 3 hemorrhage within the past 4 weeks
• None of the following within the past 6 months:
• Myocardial infarction
• Severe or unstable angina
• Coronary or peripheral artery bypass graft
• Symptomatic congestive heart failure
• Cerebrovascular accident or transient ischemic attack
• Pulmonary embolism
• No prolonged QTc interval (i.e., QTc > 450 msec for males and > 470 msec for females)
• No ongoing cardiac dysrhythmias ≥ grade 2
• No uncontrolled hypertension, defined as blood pressure > 150/100 mm Hg despite optimal therapy
• No active infection
• No other severe acute or chronic medical or psychiatric condition or laboratory abnormality that would preclude study compliance, according to the study investigator
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative sonogram required to exclude pregnancy
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior sunitinib malate
• More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery and recovered
• More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered
• Concurrent palliative radiotherapy to metastatic lesion(s) allowed provided ≥ 1 measurable lesion has not been irradiated
• No concurrent therapeutic doses of warfarin
• Low-dose oral warfarin (up to 2 mg daily) for prophylaxis and treatment or heparin products at prophylactic or treatment doses allowed
• No other concurrent investigational or approved anticancer therapies, including chemotherapy, biologic response modifiers, hormone therapy, or immunologic-based treatment
• Concurrent participation in supportive care or nontreatment trials (e.g., quality-of-life or laboratory analyses) allowed