Nitrocamptothecin in Treating Patients With Locally Recurrent or Metastatic Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES: I. Assess the toxicity and efficacy of nitrocamptothecin in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. II. Determine the duration of response and time to treatment failure in these patients with this treatment regimen. III. Correlate serum levels of nitrocamptothecin and its lactone metabolite with response and toxicity in these patients. IV. Correlate topoisomerase I and II levels with toxicity and response in these patients. OUTLINE: Patients receive oral nitrocamptothecin daily on days 1-5. Treatment continues weekly for 8 weeks. Patients achieving complete or partial response or stable disease continue therapy in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 3 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 18-43 patients will be accrued for this study within 8-18 months.