DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed solid tumor, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

  • Rhabdomyosarcoma or other soft tissue sarcomas
  • Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors
  • Osteosarcoma
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Wilms' tumor
  • Hepatic tumors
  • Germ cell tumors

  • Brain tumors

    • Must be on a stable or tapering dose of corticosteroids for 7 days before the baseline scan
• Measurable or evaluable disease
• Relapsed disease OR failed to respond to front-line curative therapy and no other potentially curative treatment options are available

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status (PS) 60-100% (patients > 10 years of age) OR Lansky PS 60-100% (patients ≤ 10 years of age)
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm³
• Platelet count ≥ 75,000/mm³ (transfusion independent)
• Hemoglobin ≥ 8 g/dL (transfusion allowed)
• ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• Bilirubin normal (unless elevation is due to Gilbert's syndrome and approved by the principal investigator)
• Alkaline phosphatase normal OR 5' nucleotidase normal
• Creatine kinase ≤ 2.5 times ULN

• Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min OR age-adjusted creatinine meeting the following criteria:

  • No greater than 0.8 mg/dL (≤ 5 years of age)
  • No greater than 1.0 mg/dL (6-10 years of age)
  • No greater than 1.2 mg/dL (11-15 years of age)
  • No greater than 1.5 mg/dL (≥ 15 years of age)
• No severe uncontrolled infections or other unrelated systemic illnesses that would preclude compliance with study requirements
• No known history of xeroderma pigmentosum or other diseases with reduced DNA repair
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from all prior therapy
• At least 3 weeks since prior myelosuppressive chemotherapy
• At least 1 week since prior growth factors (e.g., filgrastim [G-CSF] or epoetin alfa)
• At least 2 weeks since prior long-acting colony-stimulating factors (e.g., pegfilgrastim)
• At least 30 days since prior anticancer investigational agents
• At least 1 week since prior nonmyelosuppressive biologic therapy (e.g., retinoids)
• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy to > 25% of marrow-containing bones (e.g., pelvis, spine, skull)
• At least 4 months since prior total-body irradiation or craniospinal radiotherapy
• At least 2 weeks since prior palliative radiotherapy
• At least 2 months since prior autologous stem cell transplantation
• No prior trabectedin
• No prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or immunotherapy